Regency-era British drama Bridgerton is Netflix’s biggest series ever with more than 82 million households tuning in to watch the show, the streaming platform has announced. That is a 19M households higher than the four-week projection Netflix issued 10 days into the Shondaland series’ run (63 million), at the time the streamer’s fifth-biggest launch in history.
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The series which continues to be a sensation is now Netflix’s biggest series ever, pushing down the previous record-holder The Witcher (76M in its first 28 days) to number two.
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Created by Shondaland veteran, Chris Van Dusen, Bridgerton ranked number one overall in 83 countries including the US, UK, Pakistan, India, and South Africa, and made the top 10 in every country except Japan, Netflix stated in a blogpost. The series is based on Julia Quinn’s novels of the same name. The first season followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) as she made her debut in Regency London, seeking a husband.
Analysts say that the series’ timing likely played a role in its breakout success. It arrived amid the latest deadly COVID-19 surge with people in many countries exhausted after months in quarantine.
“I think the show really provides an incredible escape for audiences at a time where that’s exactly what’s needed,” Van Dusen said last week when the series Season 2 renewal was announced. ”Bridgerton is this lavish, vibrant, steamy Regency love story; it is about romance, love, and joy; I think all of those things are really universal themes people are responding to.”
Meanwhile, the cast and creators of the drama have also expressed their shock and delight over the show’s success.
It is pertinent to add here that The Queen’s Gambit still ranks as Netflix’s biggest scripted limited series to date.
