Bridgerton followers e book the day without work work to observe collection 3 half 2

Bridgerton fans booked the day off work as Netflix dropped part two of series three on Thursday. 

Eager viewers said they only had a few hours’ sleep as they  stayed up into the early hours to watch the cast attend the red carpet premiere before counting down to the 8am release.

Fans have waited a month to see what happens next in Penelope Featherington  and Colin Bridgerton’s love story. 

Viewers can expect things to get steamy between the pair, with onscreen lovers Nicola Coughlan, 37,  and Luke Newton, 31, previously revealing they filmed so many romps that by the end they were comfortable lounging around together naked between takes. 

Fans flooded X, formerly Twitter, to share their excitement and plans for the day, with some booking the day off work in advance to watch the next four episodes.  

They wrote: ‘Dearest Gentle Reader, you don’t have to show up at work today, as our Queen has decreed that this part of the season belongs to the employees 

‘Less than 2 hours to go before the release of Bridgerton S3 Part 2! I only had 3 hours of sleep ‘coz I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to watch the red carpet premier and advance streaming of Ep5. Not really sleepy because of excitement! Didn’t go to work for this!’

 ‘In one hour we will have Pen and Colin madly in love, having sex, getting married and living happily ever after (yeah yeah with all the Wistledown mess). We made it guys, we waited two years but we made it.’ 

‘ I wanna take off work to binge watch Bridgerton tomorrow’. 

‘So… it seems ‘the carriage scene’ won’t be my favour anymore. Haha. Love it.’ 

‘Once again, we’re expected to work when Bridgerton is out?’ and ‘In one hour we will have Pen and Colin madly in love, having sex, getting married and living happily ever after (yeah with all the Whistledown mess). We made it guys, we waited two years but we made it’. 

‘HAPPY SEASON 3 PART 2 DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE’.  

Season three part one of Bridgerton dropped last month, with eager fans wasting no time in settling down to devour the latest antics of the Regency era romantics.

The series seems to be back better than ever, as according to What’s On Netflix, it pulled in a shocking 45.1M views within just four days of going global on Netflix.

After the romp-fest came under fire for its lack of steamy scenes in the second series, the first four episodes of series three treated viewers to at least six minutes of kissing, sex, threesomes and lesbian love-making.

But after being promised that this season is the steamiest yet, fans were still made to wait until the closing moments of part one for the central love story to really kick off. 

Series three focuses on the long-awaited romance between Penelope and Colin, but the plotline of the best friends realising their true feelings proves to be a slow burner.

Part One ends on a steamy cliffhanger as after being unable to think of anyone else, Colin eventually declares his love for Penelope in a carriage after she was left heartbroken by Lord Debling.

During the encounter at the end of the fourth episode, Penelope admits she’d ‘very much like to be more than friends’ with Colin, and the pair eventually kiss, going on to share quite the steamy scene together.

But just as they’re getting into it, they arrive at the Bridgerton house, and after Colin fixes Penelope’s dress and hair, he steps down from the carriage and puts out his hand to Penelope to ask whether she’s coming with him.

The show was then left on a cliffhanger, as Colin hit fans with the iconic line from the Romancing Mister Bridgerton novel: ‘For God’s sake, Penelope Featherington, are you going to marry me or not?’

Viewers can expect things to get steamy between the pair. In the first four episodes of series three, there was six minutes of kissing, sex, threesomes and lesbian love-making. 

It was a jump from the lack of steamy scenes in the second series, which included just a meagre three minutes of bedroom action amid eight hours and 29 minutes of screen time.

Nicola previously revealed: ‘I think we’ve won the sauciness for this series!’ as she detailed the sex scenes. 

She teased what fans can expect to see, telling Entertainment Weekly: ‘We did break a piece of furniture while doing one scene. It’s a little bit like a stunt in which they’re like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna do this, this, and this.

‘But then they gave us freedom and we had a lot of say in how we did those scenes and what we wanted to do. That makes you feel quite empowered.

‘So we felt super. They were actually really enjoyable. I didn’t think they would be. It was fun.’

She also revealed in an interview with the Radio Times: ‘There is one where I am very naked on camera and that was my idea, my choice.

‘It just felt like the biggest ‘f*** you’ to all the conversations surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering. Having now watched those scenes, I’m so proud of them.’

When recently told she was ‘brave’ to film the sex scenes, Nicola joked in response: ‘You know, it is hard, because I think women with my body type – women with perfect breasts – we don’t get to see ourselves on screen enough, and I’m very proud as a member of the perfect breasts community.’ 

Despite her confidence now, the actress previously admitted she was initially terrified to film sex scenes with Luke .

She said on The One Show: ‘It’s not one to watch with the family. Take of that what you will.

‘It was terrifying. I am an Irish woman, and any Irish woman would feel like they can’t do this. And then I went and realised, it’s my job so I better.

‘I had a great partner, and it was terrifying, but really liberating. I was exhausted by the end.’