Part of what makes sex on the show unique is that “many of the shots are from the female gaze in Bridgerton,” Dynevor told Glamour UK. “Watching Bond and male-driven films, I’ve seen it so many times, where the man is laid back in bed with his hands behind his head just watching a naked woman and she’s a sexualized object. In Bridgerton, it is very much Daphne’s perspective of Simon; her looking at his body and her feeling that sexual drive towards him.” But even though the show is so sex-positive, you’d be forgiven for feeling uncomfortable watching with your parents—and you’re not alone, as even Dynevor had to do some strategic fast-forwarding when watching with her family. “I had to stand there with the remote ready at any given point to fast-forward for them not to see any of the things I didn’t want them to see," she said on The Drew Barrymore Show. “We got through it. It was PG-13 for my grandparents.” Let’s take a look at all the superb Bridgerton sex scenes from Season 1 and what the cast had to say about them. Caution: Spoilers ahead, and NSFW (or for watching with your grandparents).
Bridgerton sex scenes
1. Anthony and Siena against a tree, Season 1 episode 1
Just three minutes into the first episode of Bridgerton, viewers realize they’re not in Austen-land anymore with the first sex scene of the series: Daphne’s brother Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and his opera singer mistress Siena (Sabrina Bartlett) doing it up against a tree. Bailey shared that this revealing scene was actually his first day of filming. “The first day on set was intimate and exposing,” he said in a Netflix UK interview. “We first meet Anthony with his bottom out. I got to know the makeup department intimately as well because they had to de-shine my bottom.”
2. Anthony and Siena backstage, Season 1 episode 1
These two can’t get enough of each other, and give viewers some titillation while we wait for Daphne and Simon to start getting it on several episodes later. Here, Anthony and Siena can barely make it backstage to her dressing room before they start going at it; afterward, they laze naked on her settee. Later, they’re post-coital again in bed when Anthony decides to break up with her. “Sabrina Bartlett is brilliant, who a lot of my creamy scenes were with, and we knew each other socially from years before, so we hit the ground running,” Bailey toldDigital Spy.
3. Daphne touches herself, Season 1 episode 3
With some prompting from Simon, Daphne decides to explore her own body for the first time. It’s her first lesson in human sexuality, and the pleasure it can bring. But surprisingly, Dynevorsays these solo shots were actually some of her most challenging sex scenes to film. “The hardest were the ones on my own that were sexually driven, because there’s no one to vibe off,” she told Glamour UK.
4. Daphne and Simon garden kiss, Season 1 episode 4
After a fight, Daphne storms off into the garden outside the ball she’s attending. Simon follows, and it’s scandalous enough for her to be alone at night with a man—but then they kiss. Although some may not consider this sex, it’s nothing short of intimacy. This is no chaste peck, but one that leads to passionate necking with hands everywhere. It’s her first experience of intimacy with another person, and they might have even gone further had they not been interrupted by Anthony. “No one has told her about her sexuality, she doesn’t know what sex is or lust or all of those feelings,” Dynevor toldThe Wrap. “So we get to discover that with her on the journey.”
5. Anthony and Siena before the duel, Season 1 episode 4
Thinking he might die in his morning duel with Simon over his sister’s honor, Anthony makes a late-night booty call to Siena. She eventually lets him in, kissing him fervently as he lifts her up and they tear off each other’s clothing. It’s very, um, athletic. “You know what, it sort of felt like stunts, and brilliantly so, because we had an intimacy coordinator,” Bailey told Digital Spy. The intimacy coordinator helped choreograph the sex scenes and made sure the actors were comfortable with what they were doing. “Because of that, it was all incredibly safe and it became really fun.”
6. Benedict walks in on two men, then has a threesome, Season 1, episode 5
Second son Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) has his share of sexual escapades as well after he begins attending an artists’ salon. The internet buzzed with speculation that he might be gay; and the show teased that notion as he walks in on two men in a lovers’ embrace. But instead, he closes the door on the male couple and decides to have a threesome with the modiste, Madame Delacroix, and another woman. He kisses them both as the camera pans away. “There’s a bit of a question mark when it comes to Benedict, and as an actor, that’s such a great thing to play with,” Thompson told Shondaland. “You get to reveal the character bit by bit instead of showing the audience who he is right away.”
7. Daphne and Simon’s wedding night, Season 1, episode 5
Finally, after some arguing on their wedding night, these two make love—and “making love” is how it’s presented, with romantic kissing and gentle touching that leads to the act itself, after which Daphne says she feels “wonderful.” But it was actually a very complex scene to shoot. “All of the intimacy scenes are a massive stunt—they take at least half a day to shoot, even longer for the scene at the end of episode 5, which is an argument that turns into sex,” Dynevor told Refinery29. “They’re intense scenes. They’re very choreographed and they take a while—a lot of angles and it’s kind of exhausting as well. You don’t realize how exhausting they are!”
8. Daphne and Simon get to Clyvedon, Season 1, episode 6
Once the newlyweds get to Simon’s country estate, Clyvedon, their first order of business is to have sex—this is their honeymoon, after all. We see them after some afternoon delight, rolling around naked and enjoying some raunchy pillow talk. “Intimate scenes are like dance rehearsals—it’s all choreography,” Page told Esquire. “When you know the steps, it frees you up to inhabit the steps. It felt entirely natural to perform these scenes; they felt like all the other scenes, because we had a plan for what we were doing.”
9. Daphne and Simon sex montage, Season 1, episode 6
Let’s just call episode 6 “the one with all the sex.” Simon and Daphne simply cannot keep their hands off each other, so viewers get a glorious sex montage set to a string version of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.” They do it outside in the rain at a stone temple, in bed, on the front lawn during a picnic, and on a library ladder. It’s super sexy to watch—even if filming was a little tricky. When asked what sex scene was most difficult, Dynevor told Shondaland, “I will say one sex scene that comes to mind is in episode 6, when we’re doing it outside and it’s raining and it was freezing cold and I was very miserable,” she said. " I was like, ‘Come on let’s shoot this so I can get into pajamas and have a hot chocolate.’" Another difficulty with that scene? “Making sure that modesty garments are held on even though the actors are wet, because a lot of times they’re held on with tape or glue, and making sure that that is still in place even with doing some very energetic scenes,” intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot toldThe Hollywood Reporter. As for that library scene, in which Simon performs oral sex on Daphne before they go at it, Dynevor won’t forget it for one special reason. “My first ever scene was in the library, when Simon’s going down on Daphne. And that was mine and Regé-Jean Page’s first ever scene together. So the library scene is a memorable one for me,” she told Refinery29.
10. Daphne and Simon have sex on a desk, Season 1, episode 6
Yes, there’s more episode 6 sex! Here, Simon and Daphne spontaneously enjoy each other on top of the desk where Simon is working. But unlike their characters, Dynevor says there wasn’t anything spontaneous about the actors’ sex scenes. “We rehearsed everything like a fight scene, so I knew exactly where Regé was going to put his hand and at what point; it really frees you up, because there isn’t that weird thing of, ‘Oh, what’s he going to do now?’” she told Glamour UK. “I’ve done sex scenes in the past and it’s just, ‘Action! Do whatever you want to do.’ You feel very out of control when that’s happening.”
11. Daphne on top, Season 1, episode 6
The last sex scene of this episode starts out hot and heavy and totally consensual, with the couple getting naked and Daphne rolling over on top of Simon. But it veers off into problematic territory when Daphne, having realized how babies are made, doesn’t allow Simon to pull out to reduce the chance of conception. “I think there’s even more frustration there for her because she’s so desperate to be in the know,” Dynevor told The Wrap. “Just the frustrations of being kept in the dark…It was an important aspect to their relationship, really. I mean, it’s so fundamental, isn’t it? I think that scene is such a climax to the show, because even me and Regé would have conversations in real life about where he stood versus where I stood and it made it feel a little bit more real.”
12. Oral on the staircase, Season 1, episode 7
After the exertions of episode 6, the only sex in episode 7 is some staircase oral on Daphne from Simon, even though he’s still mad at her. That they still feel passion toward each other illustrates the complex nature of their relationship. “It never felt like the sex scenes were just there for the sake of the sex scenes—they really told a story,” Dynevor told The Wrap. “They told Daphne’s sexual evolution and it was really important to get them right.” Besides the fact that those stone stairs look really, really uncomfortable, it’s safe to say that Simon Wpleasuring his wife is definitely getting it right.
13. Anthony and Siena under the bleachers, Season 1, episode 8
After a hiatus, these two are at it again, this time standing up underneath the bleachers at a boxing match. But despite the similarities to the first compromising position we saw them in, this one is a bit different. In the first episode, “when you see his face, he’s looking at his father’s watch on an heirloom, and he’s rutting her against the family tree. He’s not even looking at her in the eye,” Bailey told Decider. “By the end, you see her having complete control. She dominates him. I think it was brilliant.” Later, we see them in a more romantic mood, as they lovingly kiss and sweetly flirt with each other in bed. “It was a brilliant opportunity to show how there’s different ways in which you can have sex and you can tell the story in their relationship and their power dynamic and how they’re feeling in that one moment, in the way they do interact sexually,” Bailey told Digital Spy about the sexuality on the show. ”So yeah, it was brilliant. I really enjoyed it.”
14. Daphne and Simon make up, Season 1, episode 8
After Daphne and Simon reconcile, he carries her to the bed and we see them have sex once again—but this time, they are true equals, as Daphne now has the knowledge about sex to fully understand the act she is participating in, and Simon has let go of the pain of his past that made it difficult for him to fully give himself to Daphne. “We just wanted to tell the story in a really truthful way and also the journey they go on with the sex,” Dynevor told The Wrap. “Daphne doesn’t know anything about sex when they first get together and then by the end, she’s very much empowered and in control in her sexuality.” Can’t get enough Bridgerton? Find out everything we know about the hot show’s Season 2.
