“It was important to me to show that whatever age you are, you still love, you still lose someone, you still grieve, you still feel nervous, you still feel like a teenager, but just that we come with baggage,” explains Ruth Gemmell, the British actress who plays the beloved matriarch of the Bridgerton house. Four seasons in and still, there is endless growth to witness for Gemmell’s Lady Violet Bridgerton—who is getting a second chance at romance in Season 4 of Bridgerton.
It’s the perfect showcase of what Shondaland represents. Right from Season 1, the show has been a celebration of love—and Lady Violet’s current arc is proof that it is not limited to just the youthful debutantes and the eligible men of the Bridgerton house. “We’ve just created a world that works. There are no boundaries and so everyone can see themselves there,” she continues.
And it’s certainly been an exciting one to watch come alive. The subtle tension between her and Lord Anderson; the discreet exchanges of desire; her gradual move towards boldness, when she finally arranges for ‘tea’. Yet the fact of the matter is that she can still wake up the next morning, and still slip right back into the worried mother who has to fuss about her kids, leverage with Eloise about sending her back into the marriage mart, and be the voice of reason for our leading man of the season, Mr. Benedict Bridgerton. She is a woman of multitudes; her maternal and womanly nature never at odds, and entirely in tandem with one another.
With the second half of Bridgerton Season 4 now on Netflix, Vogue Singapore speaks to Gemmell about Lady Violet’s refreshing narrative arc, a scene she would love to see come to fruition eventually, and being a part of the Bridgerton family for four seasons and counting.
It’s been a long journey since 2020, when Season 1 was first released. What has the journey been like with your Bridgerton cast and crew?
We’ve sort of become a bit of a family. I love those kids as much as Violet loves her kids. They are such a lovely bunch of people, and I’ve watched two of them grow up, you know? Florence (Hunt) and Will (Tilston). They were about 12 when we started. So they’re adults now, and that’s been really, really lovely. We always have a lot of fun when we do family scenes and we joke around all the time, much to the annoyance of the crew. But we have a really lovely time and it has really bonded us together.
Quite often, when you film with some of the other characters, your arcs and shoot locations are nowhere near each other, and so we don’t ever get to see each other as often. But with the family, I have definitely grown with them as much as they have grown up.
In your eyes, how has Lady Violet Bridgerton evolved over the seasons?
How has she evolved? Well to align with the book, she’s very much the mother who has lost the love of her life and is steering her children into having a fulfilled life, as much as she had with their father. So she wants them to marry for love. And that’s very much where it started.
With each individual story and with each slight change from the book, I think there’s been slightly more interaction and stuff with whoever is getting married. With the introduction of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story however, it gave a different aspect to Violet, and that has sort of taken hold with the last season where she was introduced to Anderson, who sort of piqued her interest. But also the fact that he was interested in her kind of has stirred something within her. Then we get to where we are. There’s a different side of her that has developed in tandem with the very interfering mother.
What were you thinking when you first read the script for Season 4?
I knew the writers were pursuing an interest with Anderson. But I first found out about that particular bedroom scene in a costume fitting. I hadn’t read a script. I basically was being fitted for the corset for it. And that was quite a shock. And I think Daniel (Francis) and I had a conversation and mutual laugh about the whole thing. And then we had the script, which was when I realised there wasn’t so much to panic about.
Of course, they were always incredibly respectful about where I was prepared to go and where I wasn’t, and I was not prepared to get my arse out for anyone. So that was fine. But it was a lot of fun. It’s nice to sort of show a demographic that is also actually a very large demographic of our audience I believe. It was important to me to show that whatever age you are, you still love, you still lose someone, you still grieve, you still feel nervous, you still feel like a teenager, but we come with baggage. When you’re in the first throes of love, you’re quite often open arms. But you know, when you get to my age, there’s a lot of baggage to haul around.
How did you emotionally approach and prepare for your arc?
I think practically, it’s just kind of a dialogue between the writers—Daniel, obviously; the intimacy coordinator; the director; the crew. There’s a dialogue about what you’re comfortable with doing, both in the emotional and practical acting sense.
This show is very good at having an audience look at it and see themselves represented. And so it’s just another facet of that. I am at the age I am and I felt all of those things. It’s about identifying with it and sympathising, I think.
How did you build the on-screen relationship with Daniel Francis, who plays Lord Anderson?
We’ve really enjoyed those tentative first steps, of being on the polar opposites of the room where there’s too much nervousness going on, it’s almost like watching a stage production. We kind of positioned ourselves like that because it kind of leaned into the nervousness and false idea of being in control, when actually there is a maelstrom of emotions underneath. Daniel plays his character beautifully. Anderson’s a very patient man, considering that quite often, Violet doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going, but I think we just enjoyed that madness. We were like a couple of teenagers. He’s so lovely to work with and it’s been a joy.
Let’s talk a bit more about the bedroom scene, from Violet looking at herself in the mirror to the events that unfold after. The costuming especially, was spot on, with the corset and the cloak.
Well, the scene where she sort of checks herself out in the mirror is a good way of showing that this woman has not been shown or been touched for about 14 years probably. So before she unveils herself to anybody else, she kind of needs to know what she’s dealing with. It was really lovely discussing this with Stephen (Williams), who actually made the corset. He’s an extraordinary man, and he wanted to make me feel confident. And I felt very confident in what I wore, actually, with the beautiful dressing gown as well.
The gown was just enormous and absolutely exquisite, and I would love to have stolen it frankly, because it was so beautiful and it was like a sheet of its own. The whole idea of it was so we could wrap ourselves in it, and all that. And I think Lizzy (Talbot), the intimacy coordinator, was very much in conversation with the showrunner and the director and us as well, just so that we could feel confident. It’s about confidence, because you’re very exposed. But I get away with murder. Not only do I not do what the others do, but I didn’t even do what Daniel did. I was very lucky.
Do you have a particular favourite scene from Season 4?
There are a couple. There’s a really lovely one I enjoyed with Luke (Thompson). It’s when I’ve found out from Lady Whistledown that she’s been writing about him at his bequest. And I sort of run rings around him, and I’m a bit sarky with him. And I quite like that. I quite like being the mother in control in that scene. That was one of the very first scenes that we did and I loved working with Luke. It was kind of nice for that mother-son relationship to come to fruition having known him for so long.
And then another one that you will get to see in the next part is a very tentative scene with Hannah (Dodd), who plays Francesca. I think those who know the books will know that it becomes quite sad. So yeah it was quite a scene to do, and I thought she was amazing. So they’re both with my kids, yeah.
Is there a particular relationship from the Bridgerton universe that you would love to see explored more?
Well, what I would say is I would like at some point to have all of my children together. All of them, with all of their partners and all the grandchildren in the drawing room. I would like to see that. It’s quite hard to do of course, because they all go off and do amazing things, but I would love that even just for one day. Just that one scene. I think I might cry; the tears on screen would be real.
As an actor, how would you say you’ve grown together with the show?
I’ve probably grown in confidence. You know, most actors kind of go from job to job, and sometimes there are those huge swathes of unemployment. I’ve certainly been in that position. So for something to be so secure, even if I don’t know the next one’s coming because I’m well aware it could stop tomorrow. One of the things I would say is that if Ruth Gemmell from 2019 went for this current character now, she wouldn’t get it. I absolutely am certain of that. I wouldn’t get this job. Especially with what it has become now. But with it being a show that’s still got quite a long chunk ahead of it, it’s certainly helped me grow in confidence.
But there’s only one Ruth Gemmell that we love to adore now. Do you have any personal goals for yourself this year?
I need to tidy up the garden. I love gardening and we’re coming into spring, and all the dead bits are rotting. I need to take them away so that the new stuff can come up and germinate. I swear I’m happiest in the garden.
Photographer: David Reiss
Styling: Miranda Almond
Make-up: Charlotte Yeomans
Hair: Adam Cooke
Watch Bridgerton Season 4 on Netflix now.
