What Would Danbury Do?

In this very special episode, Adele, Kate and special guest host Maxine Beneba Clarke take on the whole Queen Charlotte mini-series in one wide-ranging conversation. There are arrivals and arguments, families and fortunes, a great experiment, dual timelines, blooming gardens, and the all-consuming important task of begetting an heir. The most ambitious Bridgerton-verse series yet, Queen Charlotte dives headfirst into intersectional storytelling. 

Books and other media we discuss:

- Queen Charlotte, the TV show

- Bridgerton, the TV show 

- Colleen Hoover, an author

- Shondaland, the production company

- Hamilton, the musical theatre production

- I will always love you, the song by Dolly Parton

- The West Wing, the TV show

- The Bridgertons, a book series by Julia Quinn

- Violet in Bloom, a short story by Julia Quinn

- Benny Hill, a TV series

- The Notebook, a film

- It’s the Sound of the Thing, a book of poetry for children by Maxine Beneba Clarke

You can find Maxine’s books in all good bookstores, and keep an eye on what she’s up to on twitter @slamup or on instagram @maxinebeneba. 

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. 

This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people and edited by Ben McKenzie at Splendid Chaps Productions. You can find Ben here: www.splendidchaps.com

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

Please note: this episode was recorded in 2022, and some details have since changed and/or been confirmed. For example, we now know that Bridgerton S3 is about Colin and Penelope.

In this bonus episode Adele interviews Elise and Priscilla, two psychologists who look at mental health representation in fiction on their podcast Novel Feelings. The discussion covers realism, escapism, the cycle of hero/anti-hero, charisma, women as consumers, grief, loss, personal growth, and Jonathan Bayley’s face.

Books and other media we discuss:

• Bridgerton, the TV show 

• Outlander, the TV show

• Outlander, the book series

• The Lost City, a film

• The Viscount Who Loved Me, a novel by Julia Quinn

• When He Was Wicked, a novel by Julia Quinn

• Pride and Prejudice, a novel by Jane Austen

• Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 film

• Heartstopper, the TV show

You can find Novel Feelings on twitter @novel_feelings or on their website novelfeelings.com. The Bridgerton content is here: 

• Read: novelfeelings.com/2021/03/28/novel-tropes-1-commitment-issues-ft-bridgerton-rants/

• Read: novelfeelings.com/2022/04/19/grief-trauma-and-patriarchy-the-true-banes-of-anthony-bridgertons-existence/

• Listen: Commitment Issues 

• Listen: Consent and Gender Norms in Bridgerton (with Pop Psychology 101)

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. 

This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people and edited by Ben McKenzie at Splendid Chaps Productions. You can find Ben here: www.splendidchaps.com

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

‘You are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires’

We all get a little fluttery this episode, but really…can you blame us?

Featuring:

• Substitute nudity

• Women in context

• Privilege just all over the place

• Slumming it in Bloomsbury

• Jealousy, Ambition, and Class

• Lady Featherington fan club

• Bee gate, gun gate, library gate

• Don’t try on the ring. 

• White shirts; wet shirts

• Family mode activated

Here are is the media we talk about in this episode:

• Why Write, Noè’s podcast with writers

• Like Us, Noè’s podcast about living as a person of colour in Australia

• The Bridgertons, a book series by Julia Quinn

• Downton Abbey, the tv series

• Pride and Prejudice, a novel by Jane Austen

• Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 film

• My Best Friend’s Wedding, the 1997 film

• The Family Stone, the 2005 film

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the tv series

• Ted Lasso, the tv series

This episode’s What Would Danbury Do letter comes from Crystal Chen in Amy Lea’s Set On You. You can find more of Amy’s books here. 

If you would like to send us a What Would Danbury Do, simply record a voice memo on your phone with the letter and send it to us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Our guest host this episode is the wonderful, warm, witty Noè Harsel. You can hear more from Noè by following her on twitter or instagram @noeharsel, on her website www.noeharsel.com where you can read her writing and subscribe to her podcast.

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your favourite podcast provider. People who leave reviews get a solid 8 hours of sleep every night. 

This episode was recorded on the traditional and unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people.

Our editor is Ben McKenzie of Splendid Chaps Productions. If you need production work completed, you can find them here: splendidchaps.com
What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

In this bonus episode Kate interviews Sunny Singh, novelist, Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University, co-creator of the Jhalak Prize, and expert on Hindi Cinema.

Sunny is a lively, knowledgeable, and generous guest, and our interview moves through the long and vibrant history of commercial film in South Asia, the political history and geography of Hindi cinema, and contemporary representation within the Global North.

We also discuss Kate, Edwina, and Mary, and how Bridgerton has been received by both Indian and South-Asian diaspora viewers. 

Books and other media we discuss:

• Bridgerton S1 & S2, the TV show 

• Raja Harishchandra, the 1913 film

• Vie et Passion du Christ (The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ), the 1903 film

• Lor Girl, the first sound film in the Persian language

• Bride and Prejudice, the 2004 film

• Orientalism, the 1978 book by Edward W. Said

• ‘In the time of plastic representation’, 2017 article by Kristen J. Warner

• Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, the title song to the film of the same name

• Ghalib, a poet

• Bridgerton, the book series by Julia Quinn

• 100 Essential Indian Films, the 2018 book by Sangeeta Datta and Rohit K Dasgupta

• 100 Bollywood Films, the 2006 book by Rachel Dwyer

You can find Sunny on twitter @profsunnysingh.

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. 

This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people and edited by Ben McKenzie at Splendid Chaps Productions. You can find Ben here: www.splendidchaps.com

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site. 

Tensions at Aubrey Hall are HIGH, friends, and this episode is not going to make things any easier. After a few days of getting to know each other in quieter surrounds, the Bridgertons and Sharmas are about to be joined by the rest of the ton, as everyone takes to the country for Lady Bridgerton’s Heart and Flowers ball. 

There are certainly flowers and hearts, though the latter aren’t always beating in the right direction. We have not one but two surprise proposals leading to what will surely be bright futures - and one relationship that hasn’t quite been left in the past…

Featuring:

• Edwina’s really very questionable, quite unhinged, super nonsensical plan

• Main character energy: who wants it, who has it

• Practicalities: who wants them, who has them

• Privilege: who wants it, who has it

• Forgiveness: who wants it, who has it, who really doesn’t need it

• Attention: who wants it, who has it

• Money: who wants it, who has it

• Ethics: who wants them, who has them

• Control: who wants it, who has it

• Good advice: who gives it, who ignores it

Here are is the media we talk about in this episode:

• The Viscount Who Loved Me, a novel by Julia Quinn

• Bridgerton S1 & 2

• To Sir Phillip, With Love, a novel by Julia Quinn

• Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the TV series

This episode’s What Would Danbury Do letter comes from Ava, from Ana Huang’s Twisted Love. You can find more of Ana’s books here. 

If you would like to send us a What Would Danbury Do, simply record a voice memo on your phone with the letter and send it to us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Our guest host this episode is the very lovely, very charming, very funny Patrick Lenton. You can hear more from Patrick by following him on Twitter @PatrickLenton or subscribe to his fabulous newsletter here. 

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your favourite podcast provider. People who leave reviews never sing off-key. 

This episode was recorded on the traditional and unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people.

Our editor is Ben McKenzie of Splendid Chaps Productions. If you need production work completed, you can find them here: splendidchaps.com

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

In this bonus episode Adele interviews Sarina Cevaal-Hewitt, the NEDCA Regional Director of Croquet Victoria. Sarina believes that croquet is a game for life, and is as interested in promoting the social benefits as the competitive ones. She shares her thoughts on the history of the game, the Bridgerton game play, and how croquet is ‘very nice people playing a very vicious game’.

Books and other media we discuss:

• Bridgerton, the TV show 

• Croquet Victoria

• The Viscount who Loved Me, a book by Julia Quinn

You can find Sarina and Croquet Victoria on twitter @croquetvictoria.

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. Leaving a review gives you a pep in your step!

This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people and edited by Ben McKenzie at Splendid Chaps Productions.

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

First, some housekeeping: we’re so very sorry that it’s taken us so long to get back to these episodes. We missed you, and we are so grateful that you’ve stayed with us. We will have a much more regular release schedule from this point forward. Thank you.

Second, unfortunately Rudi has to step back for the minute due to work commitments. For the remainder of this season we will be inviting special guest hosts, but no one can ever replace her, and we look forward to when she is able to join us again!

On with the show!

It’s all about family this episode, as the Sharmas join the Bridgertons at Aubrey Hall for a little get-to-know-you session before the rest of the ton arrive. And there is ripe opportunity to get to know each other. Who ever it was who said, an hour of play reveals more than a year’s conversation *must* have been talking about playing Pall Mall with the Bridgertons. 

Please note: this episode contains mention of traumatic birth, surgical intervention, and maternal death

Featuring:

• Really good dad advice

• Foreshadowing

• The bee

• Marrying for cheese

• Who is a Bridgerton?

• Narrative edging

• Like Anthony, but with a vagina

• Things you can and cannot say to eldest children

• Edwina = divisive

• Spare anxiety

• Breathing

Here are is the media we talk about in this episode:

• Pride and Prejudice, a novel by Jane Austen

• The Bridgerton books, a series by Julia Quinn

• The Viscount Who Loved Me, a novel by Julia Quinn

• Romancing Mr Bridgerton, a novel by Julia Quinn

This episode’s What Would Danbury Do letter comes from Neha, from Suleikha Snyder’s Big Bad Wolf. You can find out more about Suleikha’s books, and about Neha and Joe here. 

If you would like to send us a What Would Danbury Do, simply record a voice memo on your phone with the letter and send it to us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your favourite podcast provider. People who leave reviews receive 23% more sunshine than people who do not.  

This episode was recorded on the traditional and unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people.

Our editor is Ben McKenzie of Splendid Chaps Productions. You can find them splendidchaps.com
What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

In this bonus episode Kate interviews Dr Javaria Farooqui, an assistant professor at COMSATS University, Lahore. She recently wrote an article about the nuanced reception of the television series Bridgerton. In this episode, we talk about what British Imperialism is, and how the history of Britain in South Asia affects the second season of Bridgerton.

Please note: this discussion contains discussions of colonisation practices, racism, and colonial violence.

Features:

• The East India Company

• All the British Feels

• Money, mannerisms and marrying down

• Shit-tolerance (on TV and in life)

• Representation vs accuracy

• A start (though not an end)

Books and other Media We Discuss:

• Bridgerton, the TV show 

• For many Pakistani Bridgerton fans looking for an escape, a brown Kate Sharma isn't what they signed up for, an article by Dr Javaria Farooqui

• Minute on Indian Education, Lord Thomas Babington Macauley 

Javaria’s list of popular South Asian romance series:

1. "Dobara" [trans. "Again"]

2.  "Dil Lagi" [trans. "Delusion"]

3.  "Mere Hamsafar" [trans. "My Companion]

4.  "Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi" [trans. "Your Self-Love"] CW: Javaria notes that this series is ongoing and does not yet have a guarantee of a happy ending. Further, it features examples of harassment from the male lead character

5. "Koi Chaand Rakh" [trans. "Give Me Some Moon"]

6.  "Prem Gali" [trans. "Love Alley"]

You can find Javaria on twitter @JavariaFarooqui, and a list of some of her academic articles here.

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. Leaving a review gives you a pep in your step!

This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people and edited by Rudi Bremer on Gadigal country.

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

The Queen names her diamond, and your hosts are mostly just confused as to the whats, hows, and whys of diamond status. Meanwhile, Kate and Anthony continue to clash and it’s honestly the best foreplay we’ve seen on screen in a long time. It’s Bridgerton Season 2, episode 2 and listeners, we are off to the races!

This episode is brought to you by Kensington Books author Kat Martin and her new series of high-octane romantic thrillers, pairing bone-chilling adventure with pulse-raising romance. The first book The Last Goodnight moves from Colorado’s cattle country to the high rises of Denver as Kade, a rancher with secrets in his past, and Eleanor, a talented private investigator track down a murderer with close ties to Kade. The second book, The Last Mile, just released, adds a little Indiana Jones energy to the romantic thriller genre, as Abigail, an ordinary woman with an extraordinary family heirloom, must pair up with rogueish treasure hunter Gage Logan. You can find out more about Kat and her tense, steamy stories on her website, katmartin.com

Featuring:

• Meddlesome siblings

• Sisters before Misters, Edwina!

• Sequel baiting (?)

• Cassowaries - they’re irritable

• Rudi, snacking

• Poetry, the pros and cons

• The politics of beauty (but not of race)

• Mysterious typography

• Phillipa & CheeseBoy 4 EVA

Here are is the media we talk about in this episode:

• Bridgerton, Season One, a TV series

• Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

• My Fair Lady, a film

• Ten Things I Hate About You, a film

• The Viscount Who Loved Me, by Julia Quinn

• The Poetry of Lord Byron

• The Iliad, an epic poem by Homer

• The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer

• Smythe-Smith novels, by Julia Quinn

• An Offer from a Gentleman, by Julia Quinn

• Romancing Mr Bridgerton, by Julia Quinn

• To Sir Phillip, with Love, by Julia Quinn

• Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 film

• RuPaul’s Drag Race

• The Melbourne Cup

• The Wedding Crasher, by Mia Sosa

• My Best Friend’s Wedding, a film

This episode in What Would Danbury Do, we hear from Solange in Mia Sosa’s The Wedding Crasher, when one secret leads to a crashed wedding leads to an opposites-attract romance between a joyless suit and a free spirit. 

If you would like to send us a What Would Danbury Do, simply record a voice memo on your phone with the letter and send it to us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your favourite podcast provider. People who leave reviews smell of sandalwood and man.  

This episode was recorded on the traditional and unceded land of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people and edited by Rudi Bremer on Gadigal country.

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

In this bonus episode we welcome back friend of the pod Dr Jodi McAlister, who sits down with Kate to discuss how romance novel serialisation works, and what that means for this and future seasons of Bridgerton on Netflix. 

Features:

• Vampires and werewolves and sports teams, oh my!

• Genre as defined by ‘vibes’

• HEA…and post-HEA

• The benefits of time travel

• The benefits of sex scenes

• Peneloise & Bi-nedict

Books and other Media We Discuss:

• Bridgerton, the TV show 

• The Bridgerton series, by Julia Quinn

  • The Duke and I

  • It’s in His Kiss

  • Romancing Mr Bridgerton

  • To Sir Phillip, With Love

• The Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon

• The Fifty Shades of Grey series, by EL James

• The In Death series, by JD Robb

• Happily Ever After...and After: Serialization and the Popular Romance Novel, by An Goris

• The Troubleshooters series, by Suzanne Brockmann

• The Cynster series, by Stephanie Laurens

• The Bow Street Runners series, by Lisa Kleypas

• A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George RR Martin

• Scarpetta series, by Patricia Cornwell 

• The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series, by Sue Grafton

  • Kate mistakenly conflated this series and that of Sue Grafton in the recording. Apologies to both Patricia and Sue!

• A whole new set of horny lords and ladies: how Bridgerton brought romance book serialisation to television, by Kate Cuthbert and Jodi McAlister

• Adoring Outlander, edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel (featuring a chapter by Jodi McAlister

• A Natural History of the Romance Novel, by Pamela Regis

• The Crossfire Series, by Sylvia Day

• The Inside Out series, by Lisa Renee Jones

• Virgin River, the TV series

• Sweet Magnolias, the TV series

• The Virgin River series, by Robyn Carr

• Love in the Western World, by Denis de Rougement

You can find Jodi on twitter as @jodimca and instagram as @jodimcalister, and she’s brand new on TikTok also as @jodimcalister.

Don’t forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. Leaving a review makes you a perennial favourite recurring character.

This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung, and Gadigal peoples and edited by Rudi Bremer on Gadigal country.

What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.