Ep. 56 - A Conversation with BRIDGERTON’s Lady Violet Bridgerton - Ruth Gemmell

Jonathan Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton), Simone Ashley (Kate Sharma Bridgerton), Ruth Gemmell (Violet Bridgerton) Photo: Netflix

She’s watched two children marry for love. And all that has done is make it glaringly obvious how much Edmund has left a void. And it’s sort of reared its ugly head again, I guess. So to want to embrace life and actually feel alive is something that we all feel. And so it’s nice to kind of represent that.

Ruth Gemmell

In episode 56, we talk with actor RUTH GEMMELL, best known as the Bridgerton family matriarch Lady Violet in the BRIDGERTON series and prequel origin story, QUEEN CHARLOTTE: A BRIDGERTON STORY, from Shonda Rhimes’s Shondaland, currently streaming on Netflix. 

BRIDGERTON is based on the characters in Julia Quinn’s series of historical romance novels set in Regency England. The stories center an aristocratic family of 8 siblings and their widowed mother, Lady Violet, who is navigating the marriage market with and for her children. 

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RUTH GEMMELL

Ruth Gemmell, television, film and stage actor, studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts, now the Royal School of Speech and Drama at the University of London. 

In addition to her role as Lady Violet in Netflix’s global most-watched show BRIDGERTON, and its prequel QUEEN CHARLOTTE, Ruth is also known from the cult classic film FEVER PITCH, based on Nick Hornby’s bestselling book of the same name, where she starred opposite Colin Firth in the lead role as Sarah Hughes. 

Her TV credits include Showtime’s PENNY DREADFUL with Eva Green, Netflix’s UTOPIA opposite Adeel Akhtar, Fox’s DEEP STATE alongside Joe Dempsie, BBC America’s PRIMEVAL and BBC’s SILENT WITNESS with Emilia Fox.   

Ruth’s other film credits include GOOD with Viggo Mortensen and ODEON’S CLIFFS OF FREEDOM opposite Christopher Plummer.
Photo credit: Joseph Sinclair

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BRIDGERTON Season 3

BRIDGERTON, Season 3, Part 2

From Shondaland and new showrunner, Jess Brownell, BRIDGERTON is back for its third season and finds Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) giving into her long-held crush on her friend Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).

Meanwhile, Colin has returned from his summer travels with a new look and a serious sense of swagger. But he’s disheartened to realize that Penelope, the one person who always appreciated him as he was, is giving him the cold shoulder. Eager to win back her friendship, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season. But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly. Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place, while Penelope’s growing presence in the ton makes it all the more difficult to keep her Lady Whistledown alter ego a secret.

Picking up where the Shonda Rhimes origin story QUEEN CHARLOTTE left off,  Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) has caught the attention of a potential suitor, Lady Agatha Danbury’s brother, Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis). But Violet’s attentions are focused on her daughter Francesca’s prospects for a husband. Nevertheless we’re learning there’s more to Lady Violet than being the Bridgerton family matriarch and making suitable matches for her 8 children.

BRIDGERTON also features Adjoa Andoh (Lady Agatha Danbury), Simone Ashley (Kate Sharma), Jonathan Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton), Hannah Dodd (Francesca Bridgerton), Florence Hunt (Hyacinth Bridgerton), Martins Imhangbe (Will Mondrich), Claudia Jessie (Eloise Bridgerton), Jessica Madsen (Cressida Cowper), Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton), Will Tilston (Gregory Bridgerton), Polly Walker (Portia Featherington), and Julie Andrews (voice of Lady Whistledown). Source: Netflix

BRIDGERTON Netflix series website

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