Bridgerton (Netflix)
Jane Austen sadly didn’t live long enough to complete her planned masterpiece, Debs And Debauchery, or Balls And Bonking. But if she had, it might have looked like series three of Bridgerton (Netflix).
The rules of romantic fiction haven’t changed much in 200 years. Young ladies yearn to meet a handsome, wealthy, well-bred fellow with an untamed streak of roughness, and hear his declaration of helpless devotion.
The girls can never announce their feelings first. That would leave them open to ridicule. But it’s eccentric to the point of madness for any of them to think of anything other than courtship and marriage.
And once they are married, their sole interest is in seeing their sons grow up manly and eligible, their daughters charming and desirable.
Saucy though it is, Bridgerton embraces these archaic strictures with gusto. There’s no irony or subversion about this show, which is what has made it so wildly popular.
Christopher Stevens gives Bridgerton series three five stars as he writes: ‘This is what Bridgerton does best’
Jane Austen sadly didn’t live long enough to complete her planned masterpiece, Debs And Debauchery, or Balls And Bonking. But if she had, it might have looked like series three of Bridgerton
Forget feminism, or gay pride, or gender fluidity – this Georgian fantasy might be high camp but it’s also straight as the gravel drive of a country house.
The assorted earls and dukes who strut their shapely calves on the ballroom floor are bedecked in ruffles and bows. But that doesn’t make them in any way effeminate, and they’d be horrified to hear you say so.
Cruel and arrogant Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), younger son of a titled family and therefore entitled to act like a selfish narcissist, was shocked to his core to encounter a flash of homosexuality on one of his regular visits to a brothel.
His face, when two of his paid companions offered to put on a lesbian display for him, was one of prudish disbelief. He looked like a vicar who has discovered one of the congregation with porn concealed behind his prayerbook.
Colin is a changed man since last we met him. He broke the heart of our heroine, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), boasting loudly to his pals that a fellow like him could never fancy a woman like her.
The implication, though it’s never spoken aloud, is that she’s too tubby. Reader, he fat-shamed her.
But Colin has been travelling and acquired charm, finesse, even a touch of good manners. ‘Mr Bridgerton,’ remarks the mysterious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, ‘seems to have embraced a new personality entirely.
But one must wonder, is this new character the real him? And does Mr Bridgerton himself even know?’
But fans hoping to see more of the bare bottoms and raunchy sex scenes that made the first series such a hit are set to be disappointed, TV critics have warned in their reviews
Heaving bodices, opulent sets and a will-they-won’t-they romance can only mean one thing: Bridgerton is back
The oldest Bridgerton, Viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), and his new bride Kate (Simone Ashley) are busy consummating their marriage after last season’s love-and-hate romance as she gasps ‘You do know that what we are doing is not how one makes an heir?’
What we know but Colin doesn’t is that the anonymous Lady W is really Penelope. Will he fall in love with her despite himself? And what will happen then if her secret slips out?
Penelope’s double life has already wrecked her closest friendship, with Colin’s sarcastic sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie).
Meanwhile the oldest Bridgerton, Viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), and his new bride Kate (Simone Ashley) are busy consummating their marriage after last season’s love-and-hate romance.
She’s sprawled across a four-poster bed. He’s head-down under the duvet, an item of bedding that seems remarkably modern for the 1820s. ‘You do know,’ she gasps, ‘that what we are doing is not how one makes an heir?’
No wonder Miss Coughlan says she won’t be watching this series with her mum.
Mostly, though, the cast keep their clothes on. And what costumes they are. Adjoa Andoh is especially striking as Lady Danbury in a white top hat and coat-tails, like Marlene Dietrich playing Mr Darcy.
Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte sports a series of ever more spectacular wigs, so voluminous and weighty that she must require a neck brace.
The first, worn as she wearily inspects this year’s crop of debutantes, is like a frozen tidal wave, a rearing wall of white ice.
Colin is a changed man since last we met him. He has been travelling and acquired charm, finesse, even a touch of good manners. ‘Mr Bridgerton,’ remarks the mysterious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, ‘seems to have embraced a new personality entirely
Season three ends on a steamy cliffhanger as after being unable to think of anyone else, Colin eventually declares his love for Penelope in a carriage and they give into their passions
The series is set to a soundtrack of current pop hits performed by a chamber orchestra. When Penelope arrives at one royal ball, dressed to slay in shimmering green satin, the string quartet strikes up ABCDE-FU from 2022, by teenage one-hit wonder Gayle
But the greatest of them is hollowed out to display two crystal swans spinning on a glass lake by clockwork.
This is what Bridgerton does best. The candelabras, the footmen in their finery, the chinless drones in silk waistcoats, the floral arrangements like all of Kew Gardens crammed into a vase, the plumed horses, the diamond-studded pineapples, the rosy-cheeked urchins and wide-eyed housemaids, the villainous lawyers, the hot-air balloon flights, the sheer brilliance of the ballgowns – all shot through with intrigue, jealousy and lust.
Of course Georgian London was never like this. But who wants to see smallpox, cholera and gibbets in a romantic adventure?
Instead, a blithely multi-racial aristocracy perform gavottes and minuets in an England where peerages and estates are not so much inherited as handed round on a whim.
A small boy can become a baron because his great-aunt chooses to leave him a title, and a scheming mama can forge a document that conjures up a fortune for her family, as long as her first grandchild is a boy.
All this is set to a soundtrack of current pop hits performed by a chamber orchestra. When Penelope arrives at one royal ball, dressed to slay in shimmering green satin, the string quartet strikes up ABCDE-FU from 2022, by teenage one-hit wonder Gayle.
The refrain was echoing in my head: ‘Everybody but your dog, you can all F*&£ Off!’ … What would Miss Austen say?
