Thank the lord for Netflix

Think of one scene that changed your life during Bridgerton season three, and tell me why it’s the mirror scene with Penelope and Colin. Thank god for Netflix and the show’s creators mind you, because the books told a very different story for how this moment went down (no pun).

The mirror scene was in Bridgerton season three episode five, and saw Penelope and Colin get it on for an whole six minutes of television. There was no shortening and editing this one down. So because of that, you might be thinking Netflix had loads of source material from the books Bridgerton is based on. But, it turns out it really didn’t.

The mirror scene basically didn’t even exist in the original Bridgerton books

via Netflix

Speaking in an interview, Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton have spoken about filming the famous mirror scene for their characters Penelope and Colin, and said it was important for them to get it right to tell their story.

“I just wanted to do it justice because it was so beautifully written, and it felt like such an earned moment for these characters,” Nicola Coughlan said. “It felt like a time when they truly see each other — and also the lead-up to it is so gorgeous. When she finally tells him that she’s loved him for so long. The audience has known that forever, and then she finally gets to say it to him.”

However, she said the mirror scene didn’t even exist in the books, so it was about doing it justice for the Bridgerton show writers and themselves. She added: “That scene doesn’t exist in the book. It’s very confusing. He says to her, ‘I want to do it in front of a mirror.’ They don’t do it. So actually, the show goes many steps further than the book.”

Nicole said that whilst speaking to the show runner Jess Brownell, she had hoped to read the mirror scene in the book, and Jess told her: “It’s actually not in the books. But it’s definitely in the show.”

And thank god it was!