“Sharp-witted, sexy but never sentimental”, Netflix’s new regency romance, Bridgerton, is just the kind of “bingeable” television we need right now, said Sarah Hughes in The Daily Telegraph.
Adapted from Julia Quinn’s bestselling novels, it centres on an aristocratic family of eight children – the Bridgertons – as they negotiate the “treacherous waters” of the London season. It’s like Jane Austen, then, but with less concern for “the (often bitter) realities of life”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The series “feels about as English in spirit as Dallas”, said Ed Cumming in The Independent, and shows scant concern for historical accuracy. But that’s fine: it’s only supposed to be frothy fun.
Still, I didn’t go for it, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. The colourblind casting gives it “a bit of swagger”. But generally, it “falls between various stools” – “not stolid enough to be Downton Abbey, not sexy enough to be Harlots” – just empty-headed nonsense dreamed up “by people who live in California”.
The first season of Bridgerton is streaming on Netflix
-
The 8 best sci-fi series of all timethe week recommends Imagining — and fearing — the future continues to give us compelling and thoughtful television
-
The 8 best action movies of the 21st centurythe week recommends Thrills come in many forms, from assassins and spies to regular people fighting for justice
-
The 5 best narco movies of all timethe week recommends Cartels from hell and the greasy underside of the international drug trade
-
The Beast in Me: a ‘gleefully horrible story’The Week Recommends Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in a ‘gleefully horrible story’
-
The 8 greatest heist movies of all timethe week recommends True stories, social commentary and pure escapism highlight these great robbery movies
-
Gen Z in Los Angeles, the end of ‘Stranger Things’ and a new mystery from the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ in November TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include ‘I Love L.A.,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Pluribus’
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
