Jonathan Bailey laughs as he sums up what he has been working on for the past few months. "It's sex, sex, sex," the actor says, looking delighted.
First, "the B word", as he calls it. Bailey has taken on the mantle as the lead in the second series of the Regency bodice-ripper Bridgerton after the departure of Regé-Jean Page, the Duke of Hastings.
Bailey's character, Anthony Bridgerton, has a powerful effect on women — they swoon when he walks into a room, and a teaser scene has been released showing him emerging from a lake in a white shirt — Mr Darcy eat your heart out.
Bailey, 33, is amused by being a sex symbol. He's used to being teased, saying: "I'm the youngest of four so I have felt like a meme most of my life."
We have met for lunch — chicken meatballs and kale because he's on a diet — and he is lively company, speaking fast and puncturing serious observations with irreverent jokes.
This spirit is in evidence in Bridgerton, a frothy, high-camp show that, underneath all the frills and flirting, is revolutionary — a period drama with colour-blind casting, which was watched by 82 million households when it landed on Netflix last year.
Bailey was starring in the West End musical Company when he read the script (he won an Olivier award for his role as Jamie). He has range — people still recognise him for his parts in the BBC satire W1A and Broadchurch.
In the second series Anthony takes on more responsibility as head of the Bridgerton family after his father's death from a bee sting. He has also, finally, met his match romantically in Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), a sharp-tongued new arrival in Bridgerton society.
Sexual tension runs high, but Bailey says what marks Bridgerton out is "the female gaze". We see sex from the woman's point of view — and her enjoyment of it.
Intimacy co-ordinators are on hand, "so no one goes into a scene quaking, worrying about how it will go — if you are concerned you can talk to them". And the actors are given an agreement to sign before each scene, "consenting to which bit of skin we are going to show in each scene and where we will be touched and how. It turns sex scenes into a choreographed dance."
Bailey thinks there are differences in how men and women approach sex on screen. "For a man it is less exposing. I wanted to make sure Simone felt safe as a newcomer on set."
Then he turns jokey again, talking about how he has just seen the series Pam & Tommy, featuring an animatronic penis, and had penis envy, wishing he could have had one to play Anthony.
A lot is still in what we don't see — the duke went viral for biting a spoon in an alluring way (Bailey jokes: "I was worried about what the next piece of cutlery would be — a knife?"). But really, for Bailey, it is about love. "It is good to see a romance story getting the respect it deserves — people can relate because everyone gets the chance to fall in love at some point. Hopefully."
In between the flirting, we see how Anthony struggles with the expectations on him to look after the family. He is hugely privileged, but he is also "emotionally stunted", Bailey says. Are there parallels in today's high society, or even in the royal family?
"There are similarities we can draw on in terms of white male privilege and power — where people are given power when they are not robust enough or emotionally intelligent enough to assume that power in a healthy way," he says. "Am I being diplomatic here? Anxiety can come with privilege."
Did the BBC miss a trick not making a programme like Bridgerton before Netflix? Bailey won't be drawn on this. "We can't take what Bridgerton has done for granted. It makes everything that much sweeter when you know that it delivers on a level that is invigorating and accepting and empowering. To let that go over your head is a bit of a mistake. The show is not only entertaining but politically it moves the needle, to use an American term."
It was also a lot of fun to film, "it is a massive box tick to be able to ride a horse into a scene and the training is great, riding, then you slip off to do some fencing. It's like a Regency deportment finishing school."
Bailey has always enjoyed period dramas, watching The Forsyte Saga when he was younger: "It was sumptuous and gorgeous and you can make observations about society that have not changed."
Bailey grew up in rural Oxfordshire. His mother is an audiologist and his father worked for Rowse honey. He made his acting debut aged six when the Royal Shakespeare Company came to his school looking for a Tiny Tim.
When Bridgerton lands on Netflix he will be back on stage, in Mike Bartlett's play Cock (when he talked about it on The One Show before the watershed he wasn't allowed to say its name).
Bailey describes it as a "wild" play. "Every conversation I've had socially about sexuality is in this play." He plays John, who has identified as gay his whole life and lives with his boyfriend, M (Taron Egerton). But one day he meets a woman on his commute, they end up having sex and John begins to question his sexuality. Jade Anouka plays the woman and has been bringing her baby to rehearsals (Bailey says "it's always nice to have a baby on your knee"). The play premiered at the Royal Court in London in 2009 with Ben Whishaw as John and Andrew Scott as M.
When the director Marianne Elliott, who worked with Bailey on Company, called to offer him the part, she began with a warning. "She told me people get quite anxious when they hear they've been thought of for this so I should have a glass of red wine and a bath while I read the script."
John is thrown into turmoil: if he isn't gay, what is his identity? The bold way the play delves into this has made it difficult to put on — a production was banned in Cyprus in 2017. Bailey says "it questions labels and what it is like to fall through the cracks of what society deems understandable. It is provocative but it's also hilarious." The language has been tweaked from the original 2009 version, "so there's no queer shaming or ideas of what is and isn't normal".
With a play like this, Bailey says, it is relevant that he is gay and there are queer actors in it too. "It roots it when you know that the cast members telling the story have an experience of what they are acting. It's a straight male playwright who has written it and a straight female director, but they somehow have the key to the soul of everyone in their understanding of emotion and pain and intricate human connection."
He says: "I think it is really important that gay men take roles about coming out or falling in love with another man in the face of shame and oppression. It is important that people see themselves and be seen and just the sheer inclusion of it naturally has a knock-on effect." As with Bridgerton, "representation is everything". He has previously said: "There just aren't that many gay roles, so when straight actors go to take up that space, it's eliminating the chance for other [gay actors]."
What resonated with Bailey was "the sense that no one could help this guy". "To me that is part of growing up and working out who you are. Looking into the abyss is something everyone is scared of, and probably has come close to at various points."
Why is society so keen on labels? "Labels are helpful politically, for rights, to reinforce political movements," Bailey says. "On a human level there seems to be a need to feel safe so you can label others, identify them and put a distance between them or draw yourself towards them. Identity is everything — aren't we pack animals? But there is a need to be categorised in society, which ties into a capitalist structure."
He's most excited, though, about performing it to an audience. "It's going to be intense, but what will help is some cast members have dogs so we'll have them backstage — they might become emotional support dogs." He spears his last meatball with a fork. "And it will keep me busy when Bridgerton is out."
• Bridgerton is on Netflix from March 25
Written by: Susannah Butter
© The Times of London
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