For the majority of film and TV’s most popular endeavours, the book came first. This is true for Netflix’s wildly romantic, not-so-historically accurate series Bridgerton . Set in Regency-era London (1811 – 1820), the Shondaland series is based on novels by Julia Quinn which follow the love lives of the eight Bridgerton children - the daughters as soon as they come of age in society, and the sons when it’s deemed time for them to leave rakish behaviour behind.
The television series (and book) began with the escapades of the eldest Bridgerton daughter Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and her romance with The Duke (Regé-Jean Page). Historical inaccuracies like characters smoking cigarettes that hadn’t been popularised yet aside, audiences and readers naturally fell head over heels for the classic, historical romance with its opulent clothing, eye-watering estates, streamy illicit affairs and staunch, regal reputations. Perhaps most significantly, much of the series’ narrative is framed around an anonymous gossip column known as Lady Whistledown, which has immense power to influence the public perception and acceptance of the pairings-off of well-to-do individuals in high society - something which certainly appeals to our contemporary (and rather problematic) Deux-Moi obsessive sensibilities.
Let it be known that audiences and readers aren’t devouring Regency Romance for its distinctly historically accurate nature. Like modern remakes of novels by Austen and Bronte, we’.