Season three of Bridgerton wants to sweep you off your feet

WATCH / Fun in the ton

Season three brings together fan favourites Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington (pictured).Credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix

Dearest gentle reader, at last, London’s fashionable set has returned with season three of Bridgerton, Netflix’s highly bingeable, bosom-heaving, sideburn-appreciating, Regency-era drama. Based on Julia Quinn’s eight-book series, it follows the aristocratic Bridgerton family’s quest to marry off all eight of its ridiculously good-looking children. While season one was a shag-fest in the hedges and season two was filled with enough sexual tension to power a small country, season three brings together two fan favourites: Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton, above), freshly returned from Europe with a Mr Darcy-esque glow-up, and his childhood friend, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan, also above), aka town gossip Lady Whistledown. Yes, it’s all a bit silly and yes, I only watch it when my husband isn’t home, but it works because it refuses to be anything other than a bright spot of giddy fun in a streaming landscape overstuffed with depressing true crime. And like any good romance, it knows how to keep its fans wanting more: season three comes in two halves (four episodes each), with part two streaming from June 13. Louise Rugendyke

LISTEN / Girl talk

This new podcast features everyday women telling their life story – no narrator, no host, no questions.

Let’s get the full title of this podcast out of the way first – Finally! A Show About Women That Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare. There’s no narrator, no host and we don’t hear any questions. Instead, in each episode, an everyday woman tells her life story in her own words. Guests include a singer who finds joy and a surrogate family by slinging fish every day at Pike Place Market in Seattle, and a former calendar girl in her 80s whose mission is to empower older women – from encouraging them to skydive to destigmatising vibrators. Despite the title, the show is aspirational, but the joy in listening springs from these women being true to their best selves, minus the thinly veiled nightmare. Barry Divola

WEAR / Long yarn

This floor-skimming cashmere maxi dress is suitable as evening wear or for loafing on the couch.

Joining a kitten’s purr, Sigur Rós songs and Penfolds Bin 389 in the ranks of cold-weather comforters is this oversized sweater dress. Australian designer Courtney Zheng is offering physical warmth and style heat with her “Emery” V-neck cashmere number ($650) that stretches the humble jumper to floor-skimming lengths. With generous sleeves that make gloves redundant, it can be carefully accessorised for a preppy approach to evening wear or reserved as couch couture, an elevated alternative to Snuggies. Damien Woolnough

SWITCH / You’ve got the power

One rechargeable Paleblue battery replaces more than 1000 standard, single-use batteries.

Over 1 million single-use batteries are purchased in Australia daily, with 90 per cent of them ultimately ending up in landfill. Enter Paleblue, a lithium-ion, fast-charge, USB-C rechargeable battery from the eponymous Utah tech company ($50 for a set of 4 AAs). Just one of them can, apparently, replace more than 1000 standard, single-use batteries. Designed and tested for performance and convenience, Paleblue batteries can be charged at home or on the road, saving you time and money while reducing waste. Frances Mocnik

PLAY / “I will not be lectured . . . ”

Justine Clarke on stage in Julia, an imagining of former prime minister Julia Gillard’s life.Credit: Prudence Upton

Australia’s first female prime minister was always going to inspire playwrights, screenwriters, novelists and artists. And so she has, with Melbourne playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s succinctly titled play, Julia, opening at the Melbourne Theatre Company on May 31 after successful seasons in Sydney and Canberra. Justine Clarke plays Ms Gillard in a compelling production, directed by Sarah Goodes, that uses the former PM’s famous misogyny speech as its jumping-off point (mtc.com.au until July 6; tickets from $58. Then Canberra Theatre Centre, July 31-August 11, and an encore run at Sydney Opera House, September 5-October 12). Katrina Strickland

Splinters: a love letter to motherhood – and account of some of its challenges.

READ / This woman’s work

In her fifth book, Splinters (her last, The Recovering, was about her recovery from alcohol addiction), US writer Leslie Jamison grapples with conflicting emotions: devotion to her baby; anger towards her ex-husband, whom she left when their daughter was 13 months old; and her commitment to her career as a writer and academic. Jamison, known for her non-fiction prowess, has written a love letter to motherhood while providing a frank account of its daily struggles, including the challenge of combining it with a successful career – does being a parent enable her to create art she could not otherwise have made? At the same time she mourns the loss of one love as she finds herself on the brink of another. (Granta; $35). Nicole Abadee

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