Bridget Jones statue becomes permanent fixture on Leicester Square trail
By Georgia Bates, Press Association
A statue of Bridget Jones will remain a permanent fixture on a trail of Britain’s best-loved characters in central London.
The announcement comes as the first film in the franchise of the same name celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The figure was unveiled at Leicester Square’s Scenes in the Square trail in November last year, with actress Renee Zellweger saying at the time that her role as the protagonist had been a “pretty big blessing”.
The trail features statues of movie characters such as Harry Potter, Batman, Paddington, Wonder Woman, and Mary Poppins in the capital’s film centre.
Kirsty Tullett-Jones, director of marketing and communications for Discover Leicester Square, said the Bridget Jones statue becoming a permanent feature “cements” the character in cultural history.
She said: “For 25 years, Bridget has made Londoners laugh, cry and feel seen.
“The reaction to her arrival in Leicester Square has been incredible, showing just how much she continues to resonate with audiences today.
“With the trail already celebrating the very best of film, it felt only right to honour one of the most iconic rom-com characters of all time. Making Bridget a permanent fixture cements her place in both Leicester Square and British cultural history.”
The first adaptation, Bridget Jones’s Diary, was released in April 2001 and became a global hit, earning Zellweger her first Oscar nomination.
The statue shows Zellweger’s character clutching her diary, and was the first figure to honour a romantic comedy in the square.
The film series began life as an anonymous column called Bridget Jones’s Diary in The Independent newspaper in 1995, written by Helen Fielding, intended to appear as an actual personal diary of a single woman in her 30s. It spawned four novels.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016), and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy have earned 900 million dollars worldwide.
The Scenes in the Square trail launched in 2020 and is home to 10 permanent statues, and regular new additions of temporary statues.