Bridgerton is back! When can I tune in?

Controversially, season 3 will land on Netflix in two parts, like The Crown. The first four episodes will premiere on 16 May and the next four will follow a month later on 13 June. Yes, you can binge the lot in one sitting or pace yourself and buffer up to the second release.

Hurray! Your next Netflix binge sorted. Give us a quick recap?

Okay, so Bridgerton is a rollicking Regency-style period drama inspired by US author Julia Quinn’s historical romance novels about the Bridgerton family. The story so far has followed the eight close-knit (and alphabetically named) Bridgerton siblings as they look for love and happiness and breathless rumpy pumpy in 19th-century London high society. The second season was based on book two, The Viscount Who Loved Me, and it tracked the sizzling romance between the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Viscount Anthony Bridgerton, and the beguiling Kate Sharma. The pair – dubbed ‘Kanthony’ – married at the end of the last series, which aired in spring 2022.

So (spoiler alert) what can we expect from Season 3?

Hold on to your bonnets. The cast has hinted that the next instalment will be steamier than ever. The programme-makers (Shonda Rhimes’ production company Shondaland TV) have confirmed the action will focus on Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington – a flame-haired society girl who secretly moonlights as a gossip columnist under the nom de plume Lady Whistledown.

Sounds gripping – tell me more

Penelope (played by Nicola Coughlan) has had a crush on Colin (Luke Newton, above) but is determined to move on after he dashed her hopes in Season 2. Quashing her feelings, she sets out to find a husband and enters the marriage market with gusto. But the dashing Colin hasn’t gone away. In fact, he returns from his travels and offers to help Penelope find a husband – only to then develop feelings for her himself. Cue plenty of simmering tension. Are they friends or something more? Based on Bridgerton’s bodice-ripping form, you can guess how this might play out.

And what about Kanthony?

A preview released by Netflix shows the new season will also follow Kate and Anthony (played by Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey) as the newlyweds enjoy their honeymoon stage. Could a baby Bridgerton be on the cards? Ashley has said she’d be open to that plot development, so watch this space.

Any new characters this season?

While most of the line-up will remain the same, there are a few new additions to the cast of characters. Watch out for the charismatic rake Marcus Anderson, played by Daniel Francis (Stay Close); the genial Lord Debling, played by Sam Phillips, above, (spot him as the Queen’s equerry in The Crown); and Harry Dankworth, a good-looking but rather dim chap played by James Phoon. Hannah Dodd, who starred alongside Sienna Miller in Anatomy of a Scandal, will take over the role of Francesca Bridgerton. And Hannah New, best-known for the adventure epic Black Sails, joins the Season 3 cast as Lady Tilley Arnold.

Where was Season 3 filmed?

Filming began in London in summer 2022. Full details are under-wraps, but the cast were spotted shooting scenes at a chapel in Greenwich. The exterior of elegant Ranger’s House in nearby Blackheath is used as the Bridgerton family mansion, while Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire stands in for their country retreat, Aubrey Hall.

Other locations have included 18^th century Basildon Park in Berkshire (also used in The Gentleman, Pride & Prejudice and Downton Abbey, the sweeping grounds of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire and Squerryes in Westerham (pictured). The historic gems of Georgian Bath, like No. 1 Royal Crescent and The Assembly Rooms, have also played a starring role.

Isn’t there a fourth season too?

Get ready to defend your seat on the sofa, there’s not only a fourth season planned but Bridgerton is expected to run for a whopping eight seasons, with each instalment following the romantic fortunes of a different sibling. While Seasons 1 and 2 were based on Quinn’s first two Bridgerton novels, Season 3 jumps ahead to book four, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. If Season 4 returns to Quinn’s third novel, An Offer From a Gentleman (keep up!), it’s likely to focus on the artistic Benedict who falls for Sophie Beckett, the daughter of an earl who’s been forced to work as a housemaid by her vicious stepmother.

It sounds like Cinderella…

Exactly. Enjoy the carriage ride.