Bridgerton’ Season Two is the most watched English-language series on Netflix.
The new run of the period drama – which is set during the Regency era of London and is based on the book series of the same name by Julia Quinn – has amassed more than 627.11 million hours of total watched minutes on the streaming service, beating the record set by its debut series.
According to The Wrap, ‘Bridgerton’ – which was created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes – had its watch time increased by 66.7 million hours.
The cast includes Simone Ashley, Nicola Coughlan, Charithra Chandran and Jonathan Bailey, among many others.
Simone recently discussed her character Kate Sharma – the elder sister to Charitha Chandra’s Edwina – claiming her alter ego meets her “match” in Lord Anthony Bridgerton, played by Jonathan.
The 27-year-old actress told ELLE magazine: “I think she and Anthony mirror each other in that sense, because he’s always in charge, and then they kind of meet their match. I think a lot of people can relate to that type of relationship, where there’s a feeling so strong with someone, and maybe it initiates as, ‘Oh my God, I hate you.”
The former ‘Sex Education’ star added that she “100 per cent” took from her own life to relate to Kate.
She said: “All I’ve ever really known is moving around and being on my own, but in the most positive way. I enjoy it. And I think that this character, in particular, has a life where she’s had to be on her own quite a bit.”
In response to criticism about Season Two’s lack of steamy love scenes – like the ones between Daphne Bridgerton and Simon, the Duke of Hastings, in Season One, played by Phoebe Dynevor and Rene-Jean Page respectively – Jonathan defended the show, insisting there are as many as the plot requires.
The 33-year-old actor said: “It would have been wrong for Kate and Anthony to have got physical any sooner than they did.”
He added: “What you lose in sex scenes you gain in a deeper human understanding, which hopefully enriches the world so that the future intimacy scenes won’t be the heavy feature, and [you] won’t have to lean on them as much. It’s right to surprise an audience and keep them on their toes a bit.”
