“Bridget Jones…” the celebrated rom-com protagonist scrawls in her diary in the new film: “it’s time to live.” Bridget is indeed bursting back into life – and back into our lives – in the fourth adaptation of Helen Fielding’s most famous creation, in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
Springing from the pages of Fielding’s 1996 book – first published as a column in The Independent a year earlier – Bridget and her life first hit the big screen in 2001 in Bridget Jones’s Diary and a funny, sweary, cigarette-smoking, hopeless romantic icon was cemented, and taken to the hearts of many people a similar age and position in life.
Bridget has had such a cultural influence on the country, that in 2016, she was picked for Women’s Hour’s Power List as one of seven women who have had the most impact on the UK.
Two more slightly more divisive films followed, Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason in 2004, and Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016 – probably the low point for the sequels – and now, almost 25 years on from the much-loved original film, Renée Zellweger is jumping back into Bridget’s large pants once more.
Fans will be happy to know it’s a more-than worthy addition to the franchise. While at times it’s a highly emotional outing for the now 50-something widow who is trying to navigate the grief of losing her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and another person close to her heart, it’s a film that is deeply rooted in the nostalgia and lore of the original movie.
In fact, the fourquel bears so many hallmarks of the original 2001 film that it’s a veritable treasure trove of easter eggs for eagle-eyed viewers.
Here’s eight of the best references that fans might spot from back in the day, reminding us, to paraphrase Darcy slightly, why we’ve always liked Bridget Jones very much; just as she is:
Blue “soup” cocktails
Our first shot of the gang – Bridget, Shazzer, Jude and Tom – is of them happily still doing what they do best: getting hammered and putting the world to rights. Although, statistically and anecdotally speaking, at least one of them would be sober-curious by now, they all cheers a round of lurid blue cocktails, exactly the same colour as the blue string soup that Bridget cooked up at her disastrous dinner party.
There’s barely any blue food in the culinary world for a reason, but that doesn’t stop the friends downing what must be some sort of signature cocktail for them all now. Related: despite being two kids in, Bridget still can’t cook; somehow she manages to burn some raw spaghetti in the opening scenes of the new film.
Penguin pajamas
Look, we’ve all been there: you find the perfect pair of pajamas, and you’re just not willing to ever move on.
But Bridget is wearing the exact same pair of red penguin pajamas that she lived in 24 years ago, so here’s hoping they’re not the original set. Mind you, clothing back then – pre-fast fashion era – could probably stand up to a couple of decades in the spin drier.
See-through top
While Bridget’s stressing about what to wear on her first date with 29-year-old Roxster [Leo Woodall], she pulls out a sheer beige top, last seen when she was trying to seduce her publishing boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
The barely-there look – when paired with her “non-existent” skirt – worked: as Daniel emailed her “P.S. Like your t**s in that top” in approval. She’s not quite ballsy enough to commit to the look this time round, however, so it ends up back in her closet, unlike her giant pants, which get another airing.
Bridget’s Borough Market flat
At the time of the original film, it didn’t seem that wild that a 32-year-old working in publishing would be able to afford a one-bed flat in a then pre-gentrified Borough Market (Rightmove even costed up the price of her flat recently: £186,150 in 2001; £549,143 in 2025), nor buying all her groceries at the market, a move that would bankrupt you now if you too were to host a dinner party like Bridget.
But when she goes on her date with Roxster in Borough Market, he takes her to “lovely little place” he knows…which turns out to be her old flat, which has now been converted into a bar/restaurant. Her former apartment is a real restaurant IRL: a northern Thai barbecue spot called Khao Bird, who are actually running a Bridget Jones’-themed Valentine’s Day meal this week, titled: “Wait a minute…nice boys don’t kiss like that!”, after her first kiss with Mark Darcy.
Sad singleton dinner party
In what became an iconic scene from the first movie, Bridget is invited to a pity party full of smug married couples who ask her things like: “Why is it that there are so many unmarried women in their 30s these days, Bridget?”
A quarter of a century on, and she’s back at exactly the same excruciating dinner party, with the same condescending couples, but this time as a widow – and she’s still being rudely questioned about her lack of love life again. You should have ghosted these “friends” a long time ago, Bridg.
The commuter strut along Tower Bridge
No matter the chaos going on in Bridget’s life, the grind of the 9 to 5 commuter life never stops. So whether she’s making mad moves in the TV world – or planning her latest conquest – it’s all done strutting along Tower and London Bridge, among the mass of other office workers.
And despite her now living in a huge house in Hampstead, her media job is based around London Bridge, so 2025 Bridget is just like 2001 Bridget, and fond of an empowering stride along the SE1 backdrop.
Snowy love scene
Despite neither Bridget Jones’s Diary nor Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy being Christmas films, they both have big, pivotal declarations of love taking place in a snowy London street.
The original is of course Mark Darcy; while the new film has…well, we won’t reveal who, but another man tells Bridget his feelings in that same bumbling British way, as the snow falls all around them.
At least the costume department has been a little bit kinder to Renee Zellweger this time around, as she’s wearing normal clothes, rather than leopard-print knickers, a cardigan and trainers.
“Come the f**k on, Bridget”
A highly satisfying quote that many fans still use on the reg from the original film – complete with the unique cadence – Tom gets a chance to utter his most famous line again in the new film, and all is right with the world again.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is out February 13.
