Bridgerton’s Claudia Jessie: Being working class, it was difficult – no one took me seriously

It feels right to photograph the stars of Bridgerton at an imposing home, with manicured lawns, ivy-clad walls and sandstone urns squatting photogenically in the background. Which is precisely why Claudia Jessie and Luke Newton find themselves sprawled on the lawns of a Georgian country house set in 16 acres of gardens and woodlands.

Rather than the period costume they normally wear, however, they’re dressed in nothing more historical than spring/summer 2024, a transformation that does little to prevent me from identifying Newton (who plays Colin Bridgerton) but renders Jessie (who plays his sister, Eloise) utterly unrecognisable. Without her Regency wig, she looks far younger than her 34 years, an impression further enhanced by her sense of humour.

As two of Bridgerton’s pivotal characters ever since the show was first screened in December 2020 (and who are poised to become the focus of the eagerly awaited season three), they must have seen inside some of Britain’s most impressive stately homes over the past four years. ‘We’ve filmed in any sort of historical building that will have us,’ says Newton. Were any locations particularly memorable? ‘God, it’s so bad, but they all merge into one,’ says Jessie. ‘We sound ungrateful, but they do. You go to another one. It’s beautiful. You think, “Which one was that? Was it Cliveden?”’

‘There have been a lot,’ Newton agrees. ‘Every ball scene has to show an exterior of a house. And normally, we arrive in the dark, so we don’t fully see it.’

‘And then you’re shuttled into some sort of tent,’ adds Jessie. ‘You’re not really able to wander about and look at the grounds. Eyes are on us. So yes, they are beautiful. I just can’t remember any.’

We settle down to talk in the orangery (you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all), and I ask how the shoot has gone. ‘Great!’ says Newton. ‘Feels like a long time ago now.’

Goodness, I think, they must have had a very early start. What was the call time – 5am?

‘Oh, you mean today!’ says Jessie.

‘I thought you meant season three,’ laughs Newton. ‘I’ve been getting more into fashion this year. I’m starting to enjoy it and experiment. I like wearing clothes where it doesn’t look like I’m dressing up. I feel that’s a bit more me. My style changes all the time. One day I’ll be dressed like it’s the 90s, the next, like a skater.’

‘Ice skater,’ quips Jessie.

‘Gymnast,’ Newton shoots back. ‘I’m enjoying this Dior jumper I’ve been wearing today.’

He’s still wearing the sweater (it does suit him), while Jessie has changed back into her second-hand Levi’s and charity-shop boots. ‘They’re two sizes too big, but I refuse to acknowledge it,’ she says, smiling, adding that she hasn’t shopped on the high street for six years. ‘We got to wear lots of beautiful clothes today. I’ve never worn a designer’s clothes before.’

Both have the self-effacing manner of actors with minor parts in an indie sleeper that got cancelled after one season, rather than the stars of Netflix’s biggest ever global hit. Season one of the Shonda Rhimes-produced juggernaut was watched by 82 million households in its first 28 days of release, with 625.49 million hours viewed, while season two did even better, clocking up 627.11 million hours. Surely the past three years have been a maelstrom of premiers, parties and fashion events. How can Jessie never have worn designer clothes before? ‘I tend not to,’ she says with a shrug. Not even at fancy dos? ‘Well, I tend not to go.’

While Jessie has the same wit and social conscience as Eloise, in other ways, the two are poles apart. Born in Moseley, Birmingham, in 1989, not only did Jessie never go to drama school: she barely went to regular school, her mother home-schooling her and her brother in a childhood that saw the family shift from council estate to houseboat on account of her father’s job, details of which she prefers not to divulge (her parents are now divorced). Her mother cleaned houses, exchanging her labour for singing and dancing lessons for her daughter.

‘I didn’t train [to be an actor]. I elbowed my way in. One day, I found out I had the ability to make people laugh. I was about eight, at a wedding, and I remember it being the most incredible feeling ever. I thought if I could make people laugh for a living, that would be the best thing in the world.’

After a playwright saw her perform in an amateur production, she was invited to be part of a local theatre company. At 22 she moved to London. ‘I begged every agent to take me on, and they all quite rightly said no. Except for one, who I’ve been with for 12 years now. I said to him, “If I don’t get a job within three months, you can drop me.” I got one. It was an advert for Ariel. It was hard, because no one took me seriously. Being working class, it was difficult. I was so hell-bent on getting into it that I certainly didn’t know what the state of the industry was. In this country, I’m not outnumbered as a working-class person. But when I started acting, I realised I was outnumbered. There’s very few of us. It’s tricky, but I’m in and I’m buzzing. People believed in me – thank you to those people.’

Sumptuous costumes and lavish settings apart, one of Bridgerton’s biggest draws, and joys, is the diversity of its cast. It’s impossible to imagine The Ton without the withering looks of Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), but while the colour-blind casting instigated by Shonda Rimes has won praise, Bridgerton is also unusual in taking a punt on actors who have scant experience. Its casting director, Kelly Valentine Hendry, has said, ‘If we are to be inclusive, we should be allowed to look for talent anywhere and everywhere – and we do.’

As a result, they’ve made household names of unknowns including Phoebe Dynevor (Daphne Bridgerton), Regé-Jean Page (Simon Bassett) and Jonathan Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton). If these characters were the mainstays of seasons one and two, now it’s Newton and Jessie’s turn, as the focus shifts to Colin’s on-off relationship with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), as well as Penelope’s on-off relationship with Eloise, her erstwhile best friend.

It’s not giving too much away to reveal that the Colin who greets us in season three is a far more confident and dashing creature than the diffident younger brother of old, thrumming with main-character energy after travelling overseas. ‘It takes Colin some time to come back down to earth and realise what’s going on around him,’ says Newton. ‘It’s fun to see the dynamic between him and Penelope, how the power shifts, and he’s not the one that’s in control.’

He looks embarrassed when I mention that the internet is awash with fans opining that Colin has always been the most handsome brother. ‘Every fan I’ve met has always been so positive,’ he says. ‘It’s overwhelming at times, but I’ve only ever received a crazy amount of love for the show. I’ve recently had people come up to me to say they’re so excited [about season three] and to wish me luck. They haven’t wanted a photo, or an autograph – just to show their support.’

‘I’ve met people who’ve recognised me,’ says Jessie. ‘That’s always lovely. I find it mad when I’ve got my hair on top of my head and no make-up on, and someone still knows I’m in Bridgerton. That’s the biggest compliment ever.’

When I tell her that Eloise is the favourite character among the teenagers of north London, she is surprised. ‘I guess I’m so removed from a lot of the hysteria around Bridgerton because I’m not on social media,’ she says, explaining that she doesn’t use Instagram, Twitter or TikTok, is remiss about replying to texts, and generally has a love-hate relationship with her phone. ‘But I’m so happy if that’s the case, because Eloise means the world to me. Out of all the characters, she’s probably closest to the audience. She’s also dead funny. She was funny on the page, before I got my little mitts on her.

Unlike her peers, Eloise doesn’t relish the pomp that comes with dressing up for balls, and would much rather stay in the parlour reading. Jessie is more pragmatic than her character about the hours of hair, make-up and wig prep required of a Bridgerton girl, full of praise for the wardrobe department, and refuting the idea that the costumes are restrictive. ‘I’ve never been in pain. These costumes are made for our bodies, no matter what state they’re in throughout eight months of filming. We go across Christmas! I’m not slowing down at Christmas for anyone.’

The pursuit of the perfect husband being one of Bridgerton’s key themes, I wonder whether anyone has ever tried to matchmake either of them. ‘No,’ they say in unison, then laugh. ‘That says a lot,’ quips Jessie, who lives with her boyfriend, casting director Cole Edwards.

‘I’ve tried to play matchmaker, but I’d say don’t try it with your closest friends,’ says Newton, who split up from his girlfriend of four years, Welsh actor Jade Louise Davies, last summer.

Newton, who is 31, is almost as self-effacing as Jessie, although in contrast to his on-screen sister, theatre ran in the family. He was brought up in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, and his parents divorced when he was a teenager. ‘My aunties both did theatre, and I used to go and see them in the West End. I was eight years old when I first saw them on stage. I wanted to be up there, singing, dancing and acting. I hadn’t even thought about TV or film, but I was doing an amateur production of Billy Elliot in Brighton and an agent came to see me. He got me an audition for a TV show called The Cut, based in London, so I jumped on the train and booked it straight away. I was 17, doing my first TV show, living off Müller Rice in the same house that was the set. It was crazy.’

He says he’d love to do more musical theatre. ‘With vocals, I feel like you can almost get to perfect, whereas acting is so subjective. You can never fully come away and think you’ve done a perfect take.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ says Jessie.

Their cabs arrive just as I’m asking them whether they like to cook (they do). Favourite dish? ‘Vegan spag bol,’ says Jessie, who has been vegan for nine and a half years.

‘Prawn linguine,’ says Newton. ‘I’ve only got into cooking in the last six months. Before, I’d be ordering food in, but now it’s like a ritual for me when I go home. I’m just obsessed with pasta.’

While Bridgerton will keep them busy for the foreseeable future (the romance novels on which it’s based, by Julia Quinn, run to eight volumes, and a fourth season has already been confirmed), they’re both momentarily flummoxed when I ask who else they would like to work with. ‘Miriam Margolyes,’ says Newton, after some thought. ‘I love her honesty, and think she’d be fun.’

‘Daniel Kaluuya,’ says Jessie. ‘I think he’s one of our greatest talents, and does incredible things for people from working-class backgrounds as well. I’d also like to give a big shout out to David Mumeni, who we had the pleasure of working with on season three, and who runs Open Door, a free support system for young working-class people to get into the acting industry. Elitism has been in this industry for a long time – 67 per cent of British Oscar winners are privately educated. Maybe give some newbies a chance, rather than thinking the way things have been done is the way things should be done.’

Eloise Bridgerton would be proud.

Bridgerton season 3 episodes 1-4 are on Netflix now, with episodes 5-8 available from 13 June

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