Eight siblings in alphabetical order
Bridgerton is based on a series of ROMANCE novels by the American writer Julia Quinn, published between 2000 and 2006. She started writing them while applying to medical school, and gave up her place to write full time. There are eight books, one for each of the eight BRIDGERTON brothers and sisters, whose names run in alphabetical order by age: ANTHONY, BENEDICT, COLIN, DAPHNE, ELOISE, Francesca, Gregory and Hyacinth. Their mother is VIOLET, the dowager Viscountess.
Netflix released the first series in 2020, made by the company of Shonda Rhimes, the producer behind Grey's Anatomy, and it became one of the service's most watched series ever. It is a romantic drama made for adults, so this grid, which sticks to names and period words, is best for older fans. Each series follows a different sibling's story, beginning with Daphne and SIMON, the DUKE of HASTINGS, then Anthony and KATE Sharma, then Colin.
The Regency and the London season
The show is set in the REGENCY, the years from 1811 to 1820 when King George the Third was too ill to rule and his son ruled as Prince Regent instead. Every spring, wealthy families came to London for the season, a whirl of balls, dinners and concerts in the grand houses of MAYFAIR, where young women of seventeen or eighteen were presented at court to the QUEEN as a DEBUTANTE, marking their entry into SOCIETY and the search for a husband. A BALLROOM was where reputations were made and lost, and a single SCANDAL could ruin a family.
The most exclusive dances were held at Almack's, assembly rooms in St James's where a small committee of aristocratic women decided who was allowed a ticket; being turned away was a public humiliation. Queen Charlotte, the German-born wife of George the Third, was a real person, and she got her own prequel series in 2023. The show imagines a Regency London where Black and white families mix as equals in high society, which the real one did not, a choice its makers made on purpose. Our The Crown page covers a much later royal family.
Pop songs for a string quartet
The balls are danced to music that sounds as if it belongs to the period but is actually modern pop, rearranged for string quartet: songs by Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Maroon 5 among them. Many were recorded by the Vitamin String Quartet, a group that has spent years making classical-style covers of pop hits. Listeners who recognised the tunes loved spotting them, and the recordings became popular on their own. Our classical music page covers the real music of the time.
The costume department made thousands of outfits for each series, with bright colours and a CORSET under many of the women's gowns. The society GOSSIP sheet written by the mysterious Lady Whistledown drives the plot, and her identity kept fans guessing until the end of the first series, when she turned out to be PENELOPE Featherington. Much of the show was filmed in the Georgian city of Bath and at grand houses in and around London, including Ranger's House in Greenwich, which plays the Bridgertons' home.