Bridgerton. Somewhat to my surprise, very enjoyable. Its candyfloss visuals and modern soundtrack quickly establish it as a fantasy with only the loosest of nods to the social mores around the Regency court of Queen Charlotte, which means you can forget about any unpleasant real-world social or political context and just focus on the pretty people and their complicated if trivial woes. This is a bubble universe, with no more relation to its supposed historical setting than the average King Arthur* and this defuses a lot of the criticism I'd usually have for this kind of aristocratic pseudo-period thingie.
Going in ignorant of the books, I expected a big-budget Netflix Austen (and I really do dislike Austen) with requisite T&A, but it's far closer to a Baz Luhrmann Shakespearean comedy crossed with Gossip Girl (or if I'm being generous, Dangerous Liaisons), the titillation largely of the tight-breeches variety.
In a large cast Nicola Coughlan, of Derry Girls fame, is the standout, somehow still completely convincing as a teenager at 33. Polly Walker, of Rome and pretty much everything else, also does a fun turn as her mother.
Worth a go at least.
*Usually dressed as the 15th C, but 'set' an entire millennium earlier
