Promotion: Netflix

“We’ve found the show that promises to fill the Downton Abbey-size hole in our television-watching schedules, and it’s called Bridgerton. The upcoming series is a new Netflix drama created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes, who created such long-running and lauded shows as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and Private Practice.”

“The new series is based on the popular Bridgerton novels by Julia Quinn. The books are historical romances set in 1800s London that follow the romances of the eight Bridgerton siblings: Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth. The books have sold millions of copies around the world, and they have been translated into 32 languages.”

“The Bridgerton series focuses on the romantic entanglements of the eight — yep, you get it now — Bridgerton children: Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth. They are an immense, well-off, smart-mouthed, profoundly well-intentioned family with residences in London and others scattered around the English countryside. They also share an unerring sense of falling in love with people who are…complex, like Duke Simon Basset, played by Regé-Jean Page, above. Their antics are overseen and judged by the straitlaced ton, the social circle of debutantes and desperate mothers looking to make good (read: wealthy) matches for their offspring. The whole mix of honorable and catty in the milieu is very, very Shonda.

“Good news: Shondaland has aggregated every actor you’ve ever liked in a small role and elevated them to a lead, put them in glorious costumes and filmed them in some of the most scenic parts of England, like Bath. If there is one show next year that is going to push costume drama glam to the max and make stars out of its cast, it is this one.”

The article begins:

“DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music star Julie Andrews is the first actor officially cast in Shondaland’s Untitled Bridgerton Project, an hourlong period series for Netflix based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling series of novels. Andrews will voice-over the pivotal character of Lady Whistledown in eight-episode series, slated to premiere in 2020.”

JQ’s Bridgertons are highlighted partway into the article with:

“Set between 1813 and 1827, the Bridgerton Series is a collection of eight novels, each featuring one of the eight children of the late Viscount Bridgerton: Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth. Lady Whistledown’s gossip columns “narrate” the first four books. Additionally, the character headlined two novellas that are part of the franchise, The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown and Lady Whistledown Strikes Back.”