Bridgerton is back for a third season, and while we get ready to enjoy the colourful costumes, gorgeous locations and anticipate the potential steaminess of a relationship between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), there is one sweet scene in the first episode that is already winning praise from fans.
It’s a new season in the ton, which means Queen Charlotte is meeting all the young ladies making their debut in society, including Colin’s younger sister Francesca. In an early scene in the first episode, elegant young women and their mothers line up to see the Queen, and among them is Dolores Stowell and her mother, Lady Stowell. What is notable about the pair is that, when they walk away from the encounter, Dolores and her mother use British Sign Language to communicate with each other – making Lady Stowell the first visibly D/deaf character in the series.
The latest exploits from The 'Ton will stream exclusively on Netflix, which is currently available free with a Sky Stream free trial. Bridgerton fans can try the Sky Stream and Netflix bundle absolutely free for 31 days, meaning you could watch the entire new season and cancel the subscription before the month is up without paying a thing.
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SkyLady Stowell is played by Sophie Woolley, an actress and writer who is Deaf in real life, while her daughter is played by Alice Kitty Devlin, who is fluent in BSL. Just hours after the episode dropped on Netflix, fans rushed to praise the characters’ inclusion in the series.
“New Bridgerton has a deaf debutante!” wrote one fan on X, while another commented: “Omg there’s a deaf debutante! Oh I love this. I do hope we’ll see her again.” More comments have followed, with a fan writing: “A deaf girl in Bridgerton oh my god this means the world,” and another agreeing by saying: “Why is no one mentioning there was either a deaf debutante or a deaf mama in Bridgerton and they were signing to one another????? That is so awesome.”
Bridgerton is known for its diverse casting, but D/deaf representation on screen is still considered by many to be rare, and it is only a few years ago that film and TV makers were still casting hearing actors like Julianne Moore (in Wonderstruck) and Kiernan Shipka (The Silence) in deaf parts.
In recent years, there have been more D/deaf and hard of hearing characters on screen played by actors who themselves are deaf or have hearing issues. One example is the movie CODA, which won the Best Picture Academy Award in 2022, and featured D/deaf actors including Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur (who won an Oscar for his performance). Other notable actors who are deaf and have played deaf characters on screen include Rose Ayling-Ellis in EastEnders, Kadeem Islam in The Bay, Millicent Simmonds in A Quiet Place and Kaylee Hottle in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, that was released in cinemas earlier this year.
