Not so much a rewrite as an appreciation of this 25-year-old classic in general and of Daniel Cleaver as played by Hugh Grant in particular.

Bridget Jones's Diary

Year: 2001

Screenplay by: Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis

Based on the novel by: Helen Fielding

Directed by: Sharon Maguire

Stars: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant

Show notes:

CN: discussion of fatphobia and diet culture; derogatory language

If you would like to skip the plot summary for this month's film you can spool forward about 12 and a half minutes into the episode.

In this episode we mention the films:

Notting Hill* (1999) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125439/)

Paddington 2 (2017) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4468740/)

Love Actually (2003) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/)

And the TV series:

Pride and Prejudice (1995) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112130/)

And the books:

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones%27s_Diary_(novel))

Sex & The City by Candace Bushnell (1996) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City_(newspaper_column))

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (1978) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_City_(novel))

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend (1982) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Diary_of_Adrian_Mole,_Aged_13%C2%BE)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding (1999) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones:_The_Edge_of_Reason_(novel))

Persuasion by Jane Austen (1817) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion_(novel))

*Films marked with an asterisk have previously been featured on the podcast.

You can watch the shower sketch from Eddie Izzard's Glorious tour (1997) here: https://youtu.be/0Zfsn82MF3E?si=uhKVM3t9YtR8PKSQ

NB: In this episode, we refer to events from both the first and the second books in the Bridget Jones canon - Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (1999)

The passage from the (first) book that Charles Adrian was trying to find is right at the beginning - Sunday 1 January: "It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting 'Cathy' and banging your head against a tree."

Comic Relief, mentioned in passing at the beginning of this episode, is a British charity co-founded in 1986 by Richard Curtis and Sir Lenny Henry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Relief).

If you would like to suggest films for future episodes, you can tweet Lisa: @LisaStowaway.

We record these episodes over the internet. Sometimes the audio is not perfect. We apologise for that.

Music in this episode is by Martin Zaltz Austwick (martinzalzaustwick.com). Artwork is by Lisa Findley.

Thank you for listening!