She may now be in her early fifties, a widowed mother of two struggling with the school run and grappling with digital dating (and men much younger than herself), but Bridget Jones is back.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – the fourth film to feature the chaotic world of the fictional diarist – premieres in the UK on Valentine’s Day and sees Renée Zellweger reprise her role as Bridget, with Hugh Grant returning as the dashing and dangerous Daniel Cleaver. It’s all a v. v. good thing, as the lady herself might have said. And the film is certain to be a hit with those who have followed the story from the beginning. But what exactly was the beginning?
Before all the films, before all the books, the story of Bridget Jones actually began on 28 February 1995 when, unheralded, her name first appeared above a column in the second section of The Independent.