Every Time the ‘Bridgerton’ Cast Teased the Show’s Steamy Sex Scenes: ‘Just Nonstop Shagging’

Credit: Netflix

Every Time the 'Bridgerton' Cast Teased the Show's Steamy Sex Scenes: 'Just Nonstop Shagging'

Since Bridgerton debuted on Netflix in December 2020, no one — not even the cast — has been able to stop talking about the show's numerous sex scenes. "Episode 6 is the danger, red-light hazard warning," Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton, joked of the series during a Conan interview in January 2021. "I watched it with my grandparents. With my family, we just skipped episode 6. It was a no-go!" The first season followed Daphne as she navigated the ballrooms of 1813 London with her siblings Eloise (Claudia Jessie), Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), Colin (Luke Newton) and Benedict (Luke Thompson). While attempting to fend off overzealous suitors, she struck up a friendship with Simon, the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), with whom she eventually fell in love. Over the course of Daphne and Simon's relationship, things got very, very steamy — and that's without even taking into account the other sex scenes featuring Anthony and his lover, Siena (Sabrina Bartlett), and Benedict's various exploits. "I had to sort of sit by the remote and fast forward the bits before episode 6 that are slightly on the precarious side as well," Dynevor continued on Conan. "I'm like, 'You don't need to see this bit!'" When Page hosted Saturday Night Live in February, he and the cast poked fun at those "bits" in a sketch where two inexperienced crew members have to substitute for the intimacy coordinator while she was out. [sendtonews type="float" key="QfadzJ89Mh-2839755-14453"] However, Lizzy Talbot, the show's real-life intimacy coordinator, has said that filming the series' steamiest moments is much less sexy than a viewer might assume. "It's not very glamorous at all," she told CNN in January. For his part, creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen has acknowledged the complex choreography involved in each of those scenes, but noted that the writers try to ensure that every instance of sex or nudity has a purpose beyond titillation. "We do have a lot of sex on the show, but nothing is gratuitous," he told Esquire in January. "There's no scene where we're having our characters have sex just to be having sex. We're always pushing the narrative forward and telling a story through these scenes." Season 2 has only just started filming, but if Julia Quinn's source material is anything to go by, there will be plenty more blush-inspiring moments. Van Dusen told Vanity Fair that the new episodes will showcase "peak thirst," even though Page will not return as Simon. “We’re inspired by really delicious romance novels," Van Dusen said in January. "And the sensuality [and] sexuality was always something that we were excited to be able to lean into on the show.” Keep scrolling to read more of the Bridgerton cast's thoughts on the show's steamiest moments: [podcast_block]

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Jonathan Bailey

Bailey's character, Anthony Bridgerton, will see his romantic life become the focus of season 2 with the arrival of Kate Sharma (played by Simone Ashley). “The amazing producers will work magic, I’m sure, to make sure we still get the steaminess that we all deserve," the actor told the Mirror of the new episodes in February. “The thing that’s so at the heart of Bridgerton is intimacy and identity and sexuality — and so of course that’s something we’re going to have to make sure we continue with."

In March 2022, Bailey explained that the show's intimacy coordinators use barriers between actors to make sure no one experiences unwanted contact during a nude scene. "If there are two people doing a sex scene, the rule is they must have three barriers separating them, and there are certain acts where a half-inflated netball can allow for movement without having to connect physically," he explained to Radio Times. "It’s pretty silly, really, and we have some hilarious moments, but it makes it less awkward.”

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Phoebe Dynevor

As Daphne, Dynevor appeared in the bulk of season 1's sexiest moments — and was thrown into the deep end on her first day. "My first-ever scene was in episode 6, where Simon is going down on Daphne," she told Grazia in January. "And it was so great because it felt safe and fun: you choreograph it like a stunt or a dance."

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Nicola Coughlan

Like Dynevor, Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, had trouble watching the show with her family. "I knew pretty well how the episodes went and levels of sexiness therein," she said during an appearance on the "Make It Reign With Josh Smith" podcast. "When I showed [my mom] the first episode and Jonny Bailey's bum arrives quite quickly into episode one, She was like, 'What's going on?'"

When they got to the notorious episode 6, which she describes as "just nonstop shagging," she tried to get her mother to watch it alone, to no avail. "What I ended up doing was just fast-forwarding through all the sexy bits," she recalled. "At the end of the episode, she was like, 'This one was very short!'"

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Regé-Jean Page

Bridgerton's resident duke said he didn't feel embarrassed while filming the sex scenes because Talbot made sure they were so "choreographed," but his family felt somewhat differently. "There were some cousins missing from the family WhatsApp group and they said, 'We made our tactical cups of tea when you started and when we came back you were still going!'" he joked in February during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

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Claudia Jessie

Jessie plays Daphne's younger sister Eloise, who is revealed to be woefully ignorant about what lovers do behind closed doors. The actress appreciates the series and books for their candor about sex, but also doesn't want onlookers to take any peeks at her reading material. "When I'm reading it, I could move my book a little bit if someone's lurking," she told Town & Country in January. "But then, when I went to audiobooks, it was in my brain. The sex scenes were so vividly put into my head, so it was quite a funny transition from going from books to my own imagination and then, someone injecting the words into my head."

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Luke Thompson

"Relentless steaminess" is the phrase Thompson, who plays Benedict, used to describe the show in a February interview with Extra. "They're quite strange to do," he added of filming sex scenes. "It's sort of more like rehearsing a dance, really."

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Ruby Barker

As the Featheringtons' cousin Marina Thompson, Barker's season 1 appearances were relatively chaste, but that doesn't mean she's ready to have a family viewing party. "No, oh God, no! I don't watch it with my family," she joked during an episode of the "PrettyLittleThing: Behind Closed Doors" podcast in February. "I don't need to look at Regé's bottom with my dad!"