We've been watching a series on Netflix called Bridgerton. On the face of it, it looked a but like Downton Abbey, with grand houses and conspicuous consumption and hordes of underpaid servants. However, it's something else again.
It's set in the early 1800s in England. George III is on the throne but he suffers from mental illness so his wife, Queen Charlotte covers for him. The Bridgerton family is well-to-do and is trying to find suitable husbands for the daughters of the house. The gist of the series is experiencing the convolutions of this process.
A somewhat jarring note is that the casting has been done on the 'colour-blind' principle in that the colour of an actor's skin is not a factor in whether he/she gets a part or not. So there are Indian and African faces, and even Asian, among the English nobility. After a while it doesn't matter and I'm definitely in favour of the practice. After all, it's entertainment not history.
What I'm not in favour of is dropping American English usage into supposed English conversation. It grates on my ear when a supposed-English duchess says, "Tell her I'll be with her momentarily." Aaagh! Nobody in Great Britain has ever used 'momentarily' in that context.
Or, "Today is different than yesterday." No, 'today is different from yesterday.' Can't they get it right?
On a happier note, Julie Andrews has a part - she plays what we could call a gossip columnist and we only hear her voice. She's 86 now, but still sounds like Maria in Sound of Music.
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