Bridgerton, review: the fizzing glass of champagne you’ll need this Christmas Day
After the difficulties of the past year, I can’t be alone in wanting to watch something fun, frivolous and frothy over the Christmas period. Thankfully, while the terrestrial schedules might be repetitive this year, stuffed full of the same things we watch year in and out, Netflix are on hand with sparkling regency romance Bridgerton, the sort of series that slips down as easily as a glass of pre-dinner champagne.
Brought to the streaming channel by super producer Shonda Rhimes as part of a rumoured multi-million pound deal, Bridgerton is the long-awaited adaptation of Julia Quinn’s best-selling novels featuring a family of eight children, all of whom must make their way through the treacherous waters of the high society social season in Regency London in search of a mate.
So far, so much like Jane Austen. But where Austen’s novels are all about the (often bitter) realities of life in this world, Bridgerton is a glorious whirl of fun. This is the sort of utterly bingeable series – there are eight episodes – where the wisteria-draped properties and sugar-spun costumes are as much fun to gaze at the story unfurling on screen.
Since the series was announced, a great deal has been made about the casting. Diversity is a signature of Shondaland productions (Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder) and the cast, which includes the black actors Golda Rosheuvel, Adjoa Andoh and a smouldering Regé-Jean Page, adds to the sense that this isn’t just a romance series but a revolutionary take on the genre which takes on board recent works by authors such as Alyssa Cole and Vanessa Riley.
Quinn herself has been dismissive of potential criticism, telling Entertainment Weekly: “Bridgerton isn’t a history lesson; it’s a show for a modern audience.” In the same article executive producer Betsy Beers stressed that viewers should not see this as "colour-blind casting". “We try to imagine history and the world in the way we wanted it,” she said.
This first series focuses on the oldest Bridgerton daughter, Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), about to start her debut season in the full glare of the court spotlight. Will she soar to the heavens or sink like a stone? As gossip columnist Lady Whistledown’s enjoyably acerbic voiceover (provided by the great Julie Andrews, a brilliant bit of casting) reminds us, many a girl’s reputation has been ruined by poor decisions early in the season.
Much also rests on the whims of King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte (Rosheuvel), who, in one of many nice touches, can make or break reputations with one bored flick of her fan. And that’s before we get to what might happen to even the nicest of girls should she find herself straying down the wrong path at the wrong time of the evening…
The level-headed Daphne, no one’s fool and determined to make the most of her season, enters into a bargain with the equally season-averse Simon Basset (Page), the reluctant but eligible new Duke of Hastings, only for the two of them to discover that even the most pragmatic of deals can come with immense pitfalls.
Daphne and Simon’s story grips from the start with the leads making for an appealing pair, but what really drags you into Bridgerton is the wonderfully realised wider world. From the autocratic Lady Danbury (Andoh) to the proto-feminist Eloise Bridgewater (Claudia Jessie) desperate to break free from society’s demands, every character down to the most minor of suitors is fully imagined.
At its heart is the bustling, laughter-filled Bridgerton household itself. You believe that this is a family who, despite the odd spat and even tempestuous disagreement, love each other: as widowed matriarch Violet (Ruth Gemmell) points out to one guest surprised by the household informality: “You must forgive us – we enjoy each other’s company.”
Providing an amusing counterpart to such bucolic bliss are the entertainingly vulgar Featherington family, ruled over by scheming matriarch Portia (Polly Walker, having an absolute ball) and her ineffectual husband (Ben Miller), but leavened by their sweet-natured youngest daughter, Penelope (Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan with a scene-stealer of a performance), who counsels wise advice and hugs her secret crush close to her heart.
This is a series which wears its charms on its sleeve from the start and thus has no shame about its desire to beguile and bewitch viewers. It succeeds thanks to creator Chris Van Dusen’s understanding of the material and some smart, spritely scripts from a young female-led writing room. They innately grasp that the key to success the romance genre is to treat it – and crucially its fans – with respect rather than talking down to or dismissing it.
For it is by wearing its heart, like Penelope, on its sleeve, that Bridgerton succeeds entirely on its own terms: a sharp-witted, sexy but never sentimental series that is also a true Christmas delicacy.
Series one of Bridgerton will be available to watch on Netflix on Christmas Day