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Bridgerton’s biggest plot hole is about Lady Whistledown(Image: No credit)

Dearest Gentle Reader, the next instalment of Bridgerton is almost upon us and this writer is excited – but also incredibly anxious. The first part of series four was for me the best the hit Netflix show has been so far, but as the next part has us barrelling towards series five faster than gossip spreads through the ton, there is a glaring plot hole that needs to be addressed. And that is the fact that Netflix have turned Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) into the villain.

This is clearly not Bridgerton’s intention. The show spent the entirety of season three making her one of the heroes – they showed us Penelope the Independent, Penelope the Brave, Penelope the Sexy. But they did not address the Penelope we saw in season one, or more accurately, what we saw of her alter ego. Before we knew that the Bridgerton’s neighbour was the elusive gossipmonger, we watched how Lady Whistledown destroyed the life of one Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker).

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Marina Thompson was in season one(Image: Daily Record)

As series four’s focus on class divides and the precarious position of women within that, what Penelope did to Marina becomes more and more horrifying. Marina, a poor cousin of the Featheringtons with no connections or support of her own, was pregnant in series one and hoped to marry the sweet Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) so that she would not be ruined.

As we have seen from Sophie Baek’s (Yerin Ha) history so far, being an unmarried mother was deeply shameful for women during the regency period and those who found themselves in this position would end up mistresses if they were lucky, kept away while their children were raised elsewhere. There were much harsher realities – the kind already

impoverished Marina most likely faced – in which they could end up starving in the streets.