17 juicy behind the scenes facts and production secrets about how Bridgerton is made

Bridgerton is one of the most successful shows Netflix has ever had. Season two has beaten viewing records once again, and proven that our love for the Regency drama knows no bounds. It’s grand, expensive and flashy – but making a show like this doesn’t come easy. There are a lot of behind the scenes production secrets that are what make Bridgerton what it is.

From all the fancy sets, to expensive costumes and extra crew members for jobs you couldn’t even imagine, a lot is going on behind the cameras. Here are all the best behind the scenes facts and production secrets about making Bridgerton on Netflix.

In season two, there was a strange prop used during sex scenes

Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, has revealed that a strange prop was used during intimate scenes in season two – a deflated netball. It enabled them to move against each other without intimate body parts touching. “There are new tricks to the trade, new little cushions — it’s amazing what you can do with a half-inflated netball. I’m learning things every year,” he said.

Simone Ashley and Charithra Chandran’s first encounter with the rest of the Bridgerton cast was during a party scene

The first time Simone and Charithra, who play Kate and Edwina Sharma, met the entire cast was filming, and during a huge ball scene. “It was baptism of fire! Our first scene was this huge ball scene so we sort of met everybody all at once,” Charithra told BuzzFeed. Simone added that they all slid into each other’s DMs afterwards.

More than 700 costumes were created for the main season two cast

In an article with Shondaland, costume designer Sophie Canale revealed each episode of Bridgerton averages about 90 costumes, although that number can be higher — with the first episode of season two featuring 146 costumes. She said that, in total, the costume team created about 700 costumes for the main actors.

There were over 200 people working behind the scenes on just the costumes alone

As we’ve already established, Bridgerton is a drama all about the costumes. According to the Times, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick lead a team of 238 people who worked on them, and them alone. She told Vogue this is inclusive of the pattern cutters, a corset maker, a tailoring department, an embellishing department and embroiderers. She added that it was like having a “Bridgerton city of elves” working together.

Filming took place in loads of different locations across the UK

Filming for the show took place in loads of different places across the UK. These include London, Bath, Yorkshire, Hertfordshire, Windsor and Gloucestershire. The team travelled to 86 location sets.

But loads of the filming takes place in a studio

When the cast aren’t promenading in the lovely outdoors, around half of filming takes place indoors, in a studio. Elaborate interior sets are created in a purpose-built studio in Uxbridge – just outside London. According to Shondaland, the production team filmed in 54 different studio sets over the season, often repurposing them halfway through to make new environments.

Each episode costs £5million to make

After season one, it was was revealed each episode of the Netflix period drama cost around £5million to create. This includes the making of sets and costumes. Pretty much everything on the set was expensive. The wallpaper cost around £1,ooo a drop, there were 30 giant bespoke rugs made and according to the Times, a single carpenter spent four months on just making the fireplaces and windows. At one point there were more people working on set than it took to create Star Wars.

A lot of the editing for the show was done in the creator’s basement and the songs were ‘tested’ on his babies

Due to the pandemic, a lot of editing for the show had to be done virtually. Creator Chris Van Dusen told BuzzFeed the majority was done in his basement. “We had to edit everything virtually, so a lot of the show was put together in my basement and not a fancy studio like most people would think,” he said. “In terms of the orchestral pop covers we added in, I would test those out with my two 18-month-olds, and if they started dancing to the song, we’d keep it.”

There’s a cast WhatsApp group

Now that the cast are all besties, you’ll be pleased to know they have all been keeping in touch. Jonathan Bailey told Cosmo they have a WhatsApp group with “full attendance” from all cast members. However, Regé-Jean Page said he had “respectively exited” the cast’s WhatsApp group after it was said he wouldn’t be in the show anymore. “I didn’t want to put them in an awkward situation where they had to kick me out,” he told GQ. “The universe has expanded, so I’m no longer in it.”

Simone Ashley threw up on her first day because of how tight her corset was

The outfits on Bridgerton are a huge part of the show, and during the Regency era the women wore extremely tight corsets. Speaking to Glamour Magazine, Simone said: “On my first day, I was like, ‘Okay, first day as a leading lady, got to eat lots of food, be really energised.’ So, I had this massive portion of salmon and that’s when I needed to be sick, basically because I was wearing the corset. I realised when you wear the corset, you just don’t eat. It changes your body… I had a lot of pain with the corset, too, I think I tore my shoulder at one point!”

Jonathan Bailey’s trousers ripped when they were filming the fencing scene

There’s a scene in season two where the Bridgerton brothers are fencing, and Jonathan Bailey revealed he had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction whilst filming it. “I know that we boys shouldn’t complain because the girls have to wear all these corsets, but I do remember one scene where me and the sibs are fencing, and the costumes were very tight in certain places,” he told BuzzFeed. “It was also a dewy morning and we were wearing plimsolls, so I did this lunge move and my trousers ripped at the crotch. I was suddenly aware all these people were watching me and I just screamed ‘this is so embarrassing!'”

Newton the dog was a diva on set

This season introduced us to Newton Sharma, the cute corgi belonging to Kate Sharma. But cast members have said one of the worst kept production secrets is that he’s the biggest Bridgerton diva. “Austin [his real name] was not necessarily the best behaved dog,” Charithra Chandran said. Jonathan Bailey added that Austin was “addicted to sausages” and he and the dog “didn’t really click”. Simone Ashley said he was “a bit off a sass” and “was just terrible on set” because he was awful at cues. The cast also said he would often fall asleep during his scenes.

It’s someone’s specific job to make sure things don’t get broken on set

No pressure to who this person is, but it’s someone’s specific job to make sure expensive sets and props don’t get broken or damaged during filming.

The cast members aren’t allowed to take home any props or souvenirs

You might think that having worked on such a huge production, the cast members could pinch a bit of the set or keep an accessory or something as a souvenir. But no, apparently the cast were not allowed to take anything home with them after filming. After season one, Jonathan Bailey said he tried to take home Anthony Bridgerton’s signet ring but was “pulled back in” by the costume team.

There is also an on-set historian

Bridgerton is actually quite historically accurate in its representation of the Regency era, and that is helped by a historian who is on set, and regularly inputs into what is being filmed.

Intimate scenes have always been done with an intimacy coordinator and are heavily choreographed

Season one of Bridgerton was known for its sex scenes. In an interview with E! News at the time, Phoebe Dynevor said she is “really proud” of the sex scenes and how they “worked really hard to make them feel real”. Her and Regé-Jean Page worked closely with an intimacy coordinator to put together the scenes which she says felt more like “intricate stunts”. Showrunner Chris Van Dusen added: “It was all so that the cast would feel comfortable, and we all we really left it in their hands to take the scenes for as far as they wanted to take them. 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.”

Chris added that the second season was no different, and said in an interview: “This season we did the same thing as we did in the last season – we worked on intimate scenes carefully and with the help of a trained pro. We’ve never done a sex scene for the sake of it and we never will. What I will say is, these two [Jonathan and Simone] have amazing chemistry; they’re like magnets! So much can be said in a look across the room between this pair, so we focused on that.”

Filming was more difficult in season two because of Covid restrictions

The pandemic had a huge affect on filming for season two of Bridgerton, so one of the best kept production secrets is that there were only 30-40 people in the room during ball scenes, and clever camera angles and tricks were used to try and make it look like there were actually hundreds of people in the room, as there would have been.

Season two of Bridgerton is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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• These 39 Bridgerton memes are so good, they should be named the diamond of season two