If you’re looking for a new show to binge, Netflix’ Bridgerton is your ticket.
The Shonda Rhimes-produced period piece follows the Bridgerton family as they navigate finding love during the Regency era. Cue lots of drama, romance, and steamy scenes.
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Still thirsting for more? Come learn these 10+ behind-the-scenes facts that fans should know.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
1. It’s based on a popular book series.
Author Julia Quinn created several books centered around the Bridgerton family.
Since the books are so popular, showrunner Chris Van Dusen felt the pressure to adapt them the right way.
2. The show is produced by Shonda Rhimes.
Everything this famed producer and showrunner touches turns to gold: Grey’s Anatomy , Scandal , How to Get Away With Murder , and now, Bridgerton .
She was actually the one who gave showrunner Chris Van Dusen a copy of the eight-book Bridgerton series three years ago.
At the time, he had been working as a writer and producer on *Grey’s Anatomy* and *Scandal*.
“With Bridgerton, I wanted to take everything I loved about a period show and turn it into something fresh, topical and relatable,” he told Shondaland .
3. Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page went through intensive training before filming began.
They engaged in six weeks of diligent prep, ranging from costume fittings to etiquette classes.
There were also horse riding and piano lessons. “I was like, ‘Oh, okay. This is kind of crazy,’” Dynevor told Harper’s Bazaar .
4. Nicola Coughlan was offered the job after one audition.
She was clearly perfect for the job!
“When I auditioned for the show, I didn’t have any full scripts, [and] I hadn’t read the books. I got offered the job after that one audition, which was so unexpected,” she told Entertainment Weekly .
5. Julie Andrews’ recording sessions were recorded virtually.
Yes, she is the voice of Lady Whistledown. When it came to choosing who would voice the character, Van Dusen said that Andrews was top of the list.
Andrews recorded all of her parts from her home in the Hamptons.
Surprisingly, this happened over Zoom!
“Everything that you think Julie Andrews is, she is,” the showrunner told Oprah Magazine .
This means that most of the cast has yet to meet Julie in real life. While there was a plan for Julie to visit the set, it never worked out due to the coronavirus pandemic.
6. One scene got cut short since Queen Elizabeth II needed the space at Lancaster House in London.
How crazy is this?! This was the scene where Simon explains to Queen Charlotte that he loves Daphne.
7. 7,500 pieces of wardrobe were made specifically for the show.
The corsets, for example, were all made by Mark Erksine, a famous corset maker.
In addition to this, Phoebe Dynevor had “104 dresses” in Season 1 of Bridgerton , which she said made things ” overwhelming .”
8. It took Nicola Coughlan two hours to get into her wig for the ball.
The actress documented the process on her Instagram.
Based on how long it took, no wonder she didn’t want to join the pairing-up season!
9. All of the sex scenes were choreographed.
Say whaaat? The show had an intimacy coordinator for those sex scenes.
“Those scenes were heavily choreographed, much like an action sequence, like ‘Your hand goes here, your leg goes there.’ They were all really, really rehearsed,” Van Dusen told E! News .
10. The show thought it was important to feature a multiracial cast within a period piece.
A central piece of this racial equality was having Queen Charlotte (Golda Resheuval) be biracial.
“We want modern audiences to relate to the story and to see themselves on screen,” Van Dusen told Shondaland .
11. Nicola Coughlan had no clue that her character was Lady Whisledown.
She only discovered it once she did some digging into fan forums on the book. After learning this, she asked the showrunner, who confirmed that it was true.
Knowing this information “hugely informed” how she played the character.
“It means that she’s this crazy active listener all the time,” she told EW .
“She’s the most low-status character in any room, but she’s the most high-status as well, like she controls all of London society while being looked down on as this total wallflower.”
12. Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page’s first day on set was a sex scene.
Talk about getting acquainted! This scene was when Simon and Daphne have sex in the library.
“It was quite heated,” Phoebe said about it.
13. Most of the carriage scenes were filmed on a sound stage.
This meant that those horses pulling the carriages weren’t real.
It was actually crew members who would move it. Page joked that this was quite strenuous on the crew when they wanted to go faster.
14. Nicola struggled to wear heels.
Trouble is, she had to wear heels since she’s a lot shorter than the rest of the cast.
While heels made her eye-level to them, she gave up after she kept falling and even stabbed Claudia Jessie, who plays Eloise, in the hand when she did.
15. Phoebe said that the dance rehearsals helped her and Regé find their chemistry.
She told Harper’s Bazaar :
“We just spent so much time with our choreographer, Jack Murphy, and loads of time in the studio — just me, Regé, and Jack sort of getting the moves right and dancing and dancing to this modern, fun music. And we just got time to play and sort of form a connection.”
16. Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page, and Lizzy Talbot spent “weeks and weeks” before filming practicing the sex scenes.
This ended up being very beneficial, as Phoebe told Harper’s Bazaar that it made the actors really comfortable once they began filming.
17. Jonathan Bailey’s first day on set was spent filming the sex scene between Anthony and Siena.
Jonathan didn’t have any time for pleasantries, it was right to work! He said that during this scene, he got to know the makeup department on an intimate level.
“They had to de-shine my bottom,” Bailey embarrassingly admitted during an interview.
18. The costumes aren’t exactly historically accurate.
Bridgerton is supposed to be set in the Regency era (1795-1837).
While the style of dress is in the same ballpark, for show purposes they made the gowns more ornate as well as introduced a more modern color scheme.
19. Regé-Jean Page used music to help him get into character.
Page has quite an eclectic taste when it comes to the music he listens to. In order to better help tap into the mind frame of Simon, he listened to Deftones , Vivaldi, and Nina Simone.
It became well-established early on that Regé-Jean’s AirPods weren’t to be trifled with.
“One of the recurring motifs on set was: ‘Where are Regé’s AirPods ? Regé has lost his AirPods. Regé is freaking out because he doesn’t have his music,'” the actor revealed during a Netflix “Queue & A.”
20. The garden-maze kiss between Simon and Daphne was filmed on-location at Hatfield Park.
You can visit the gardens but sadly the actual maze is zoned off from the public.
I guess they must have gotten tired of constantly having to rescue lost guests.
21. The cast and crew had to get up incredibly early to go to work.
In the final scene of the first episode, Simon and Daphne have their first dance at the ball.
In reality, it wasn’t night time at all but rather very early in the morning . How early you ask? It was only 4 AM.
22. Nicola Coughlan was moved to tears when she discovered that Julie Andrews would be voicing Lady Whistledown.
“I saw Julie [Andrews’] face, and then I saw Shonda and I saw Whistledown, and it was like too much information at once, so I just burst into tears,” Nicola said during an interview with Entertainment Weekly .
23. The funniest scene to film, according to Jonathan Bailey, was when Anthony and Daphne are riding horses.
In the beginning, the horses were supposedly calm and well-behaved. But then as soon as they heard the cry for “action!” they became incredibly difficult to work with.
They almost begin moonwalking backward, as you can see from this video.
