‘Why can’t women have experience?’ New Bridgerton series tackles sex taboo
Spoiler warning: This article contains details of the fourth series of Bridgerton
One final tightening of the corset, a sharp intake of breath and we’re good to go. Yes, another savage debutante season is upon us as matchmaking mayhem descends on Bridgerton once more.
While part of the Netflix Regency drama’s undoubted appeal has always been its steamy sex scenes between members of “the ton” – or high society – series four addresses a taboo that may undermine those apparently sultry encounters.
During the Regency era, unmarried upper class women were kept in ignorance when it came to sex, while their male counterparts were given carte blanche to travel around Europe gaining sexual experience along the way.
And as newlyweds Francesca nee Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and John Stirling (Victor Alli) return to Mayfair from the Highlands, that knowledge gap is causing tension in the bedroom.
The pair, whose official titles are the Earl of Kilmartin and Lady Kilmartin, are struggling to connect between the sheets, and Francesca is desperate to find out if she’s missing something.
And who best to ask about the mystery of female sexual pleasure than your girl tribe, including her mother, Lady Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and sister-in-law Penelope (Nicola Coughlan)?
“It was really nice to see Francesca leaning on her female counterparts to go and get that information but it’s this unfair thing where men are allowed to have experience and women are not allowed to have experience,” Dodd tells BBC News.
“Unless you can have those conversations, I don’t understand how women were meant to get this information, physically and anatomically. Francesca doesn’t know what’s meant to be happening!”
In the series the couple also discuss the issue between themselves.
“John and Francesca have literally met the year before so there’s a lot of getting to know each other but there’s gaps where they’re both introverts… they really have to push themselves outside their comfort zones to even have those conversations.
“It was really nice to actually show the honesty of that in relationships,” she adds.
Neurodivergent representation
Bridgerton writer Julia Quinn said last year that while she didn’t write Francesca as a neurodivergent character, she was thrilled some autistic fans of the show could relate to the newly-married sister, who often needs a quiet space and can struggle with societal conventions.
Dodd concurs. “The writers said it was something they did discuss in the writers’ room,” she says.
“It wasn’t something that me or Victor were aware of, it must have just been on the page and that’s kind of how it came out in our performances.
“But to acknowledge feeling slightly different to your siblings and how society is going about and if that’s not fitting quite right with you… it’s really important that everybody sees themselves represented on that screen so if we’ve included another group of people, then that’s amazing.”
While Francesca and John’s storyline may be an eye-opener, the main focus this season is the love life of wayward bohemian Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), who falls head-over-heels for a mystery woman called Sophie (Yerin Ha) at his family’s masked ball.
The Cinderella-style narrative takes us into another realm – the servants’ quarters.
“We’ve never seen the downstairs world of Bridgerton before… and the real problems that those characters have to face and how they navigate it,” Ha tells the BBC.
Elsewhere, Katie Leung plays the archetypal wicked stepmother role, Lady Araminta Gun, a newcomer to Mayfair.
Leung first found fame as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter film franchise but says that joining the Bridgerton family was “different”.
She tells us: “[It was] less overwhelming than it once was because I’m older. It’s 20 years since I was in Harry Potter and that was my first job, so I didn’t really know what I was stepping into.
“I think it’s all perspective and age and experience, and my priorities have shifted, my sense of self and who I am… so it’s really hard to compare… but what I will say is that… I feel more at ease, and more comfortable.”
While part of Bridgerton’s success lies in its ability to bring in new talent each series to keep things fresh, the core cast are the gel that holds everything together.
Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte) and Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) have been there since the start and their friendship – between sovereign and subject – is put to the test in the latest series when the Queen refuses to let Lady Danbury go on holiday because she fears she won’t manage without her.
Andoh explains: “I think it is really the first time that the Queen has gone: ‘You are my subject and you will do what I want.’ And Danbury’s gone: ‘Oh, I’m [just] your subject? Right, you will get subject.’ And I think it really frightens them both. So they have to find a way back to the friendship.”
The way back is for Lady Danbury to seek out a lady-in-waiting to keep Her Majesty company when she is away – but she questions if she is selfish for trying to put herself first.
“I do think that women do a lot of facilitating,” Andoh adds. “But taking the time to go, ‘hello, what do I like? What do I think? What would I like to do?’ It’s not a habit that we’re generally used to exercising.
“And we should… manage people’s expectations as well – you’re not always on hand, you’re not always available, that you actually have your own thoughts and feelings and things you’d like to do with your time.”
Part one of Bridgerton series four lands on Netflix on Thursday 29 January. Part two will become available on Thursday 26 February.
