Bridgerton fans disappointed over lack of Penelope and Colin sex scenes in season 3

Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton star as the romantic leads in the latest season of Bridgerton (Netflix and Shondaland)

After a two year wait for season three of Bridgerton, fans feel let down that this season’s romantic leads only had three sex scenes together.

Analysisby a Reddit user revealed that Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Bridgerton (Nicola Coughlan) only spent 78 minutes of season three together, which works out as about 16 per cent of the total 475-minute runtime. This is slightly less than the 89 minutes, which the leading couple shared in season two, and the 113 minutes of screen time which the romantic leads of season one got.

Some fans believe that intimate moments were cut from the show. This theory caused a group of outraged fans to start a petition demanding that Netflix and Shondaland release the alleged deleted scenes, either by reinserting them into the show or by creating a steamier director’s cut. The petition has 55,000 signatures so far.

Fans took to social media to share their disappointment.

A fan who signed the petition wrote, “I fear the editors may be fat phobic. People can not watch if they don’t want to see it – us plus sized girls need this!”

“I’m so p***ed,” an Instagram user commented, “there were SO MANY SIDE STORIES. Polin got completely lost.”

One Reddit user commented: “With Polin there just weren’t that many moments that developed their romance – their first kiss, the carriage scene, the mirror scene. A lot of that was just making out and heavy breathing.” Polin is the name devoted fans use for their favourite couple.

People who allegedly watched early previews of the show or attended Netflix’s focus groups claim that they saw additional scenes in which Colin and Penelope kissed angrily and spoke about Colin’s travel diaries in bed.

Fans believe that the six-minute long sex scene in episode five originally included more dialogue. Some say that screenings showed a much longer montage of Penelope and Colin having sex in different rooms of their new mansion.

Star Nicola Coughlan told The Hollywood Reporter: “We loved the bed scenes. In between takes, you could just sit and chill on the bed.”

Since Penelope and Colin only appear once in a bed fleetingly in episode eight, fans believe that Coughlan and Newton filmed more intimate scenes that didn’t make the final edit. These claims are unverified. The Independent has contacted Netflix for comment.

Season three was the first with the Inventing Anna producer Jess Bronwell as the showrunner. Fans were left divided after episode eight made the book character Michael Stirling female. Several fans reacted badly to this hint that a future season of Bridgerton would centre around a queer love story. Jess Bronwell responded to this backlash on 14 June and told Teen Voguethat the author of the books, Julia Quinn, supported the change.