British acting legend, 89, finally receives Emmy for role despite being ‘pretty much retired’

One of Britain’s most admired acting stars has finally received an Emmy Award for a role she’s played for five years.

In 2020, the first season of Bridgerton premiered on Netflix, quickly becoming a corset-busting and high tea-drinking phenomenon.

The show made global stars of several up-and-coming actors, including Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page and Jonathan Bailey.

However, the cast also featured several widely-known performers, including the legendary Dame Julie Andrews as the voice of Lady Whistledown, the alias of Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington.

Dame Julie, 89, has been nominated for an Emmy Award four times for her performance as Lady Whistledown – in 2021, 2022 and 2025 for Bridgerton, and in 2023 for Queen Charlotte.

Now, she has finally won the accolade for this year’s nomination at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which are taking place this weekend in Los Angeles.

In 2022, Dame Julie revealed that at that time, she’d never met any members of the Bridgerton cast.

‘You know I’ve never met the company in person,’ the Sound of Music star said on the Today show in the US.

‘Of course, I see them on the show sometimes. But I do all my recording far, far away from them.’

In 2023, she explained to ET why she has no intention of ever appearing on screen in a Bridgerton series.

‘No, no, no. You know who Lady Whistledown really is, so I’m afraid it stays with me in the background. But I’m very happy to do that,’ she told the publication.

The fourth season of Bridgerton is due to premiere next year on Netflix, which will introduce fans around the world to the latest new leading lady, Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).

She’ll be the love interest of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), the second eldest of the Bridgerton siblings.

Benedict has had a rollercoaster ride in his love life so far, becoming involved in a ménage à trois last season with widow Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and her lover Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio).

‘I think, for me, when we talked about Benedict’s storyline this season in the room, so many of us, including myself, felt like he reads as a queer character in season one and two. So we felt like we wanted to make sense of that,’ showrunner Jess Brownell told Deadline last year.

‘I think we will continue that storyline of him exploring his fluidity going forward. This isn’t the end of that.’

Benedict will meet Sophie in season four, a maid who hides her true identity behind her mask when they meet for the first time at a masquerade ball.

Bridgerton is available to stream on Netflix.

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