The Grapevine Looks a Little Different Today
This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton and Dickinson.
In the Netflix series Bridgerton, everyone reads the pamphlets written by the pseudonymous “Lady Whistledown,” Regency England’s answer to Gossip Girl. Each issue targets the wealthiest and most powerful residents of London in 1813, revealing something new about the city’s high-society ecosystem. Voiced by Julie Andrews, Lady Whistledown takes distinct pleasure in exposing—or even just threatening to expose—a scandal or two. And though she sometimes offers little more than a rundown of which couples danced together at the most recent ball, what she chooses to share can make or break a household’s status.
Netflix viewers have been addicted to Whistledown too. According to the streaming service, has become one of its most-watched original series ever, and is projected to in its first month since debuting on Christmas. The show, which is based on the romance novels by Julia Quinn and produced
