Honestly, trying to figure out the Bridget Jones diary movies order shouldn't be a head-scratcher. It isn't like the Marvel Cinematic Universe where you need a spreadsheet and a PhD in temporal mechanics to know if you should watch the prequel first. Bridget’s life is a straight line. Well, as straight as a line can be when it’s fueled by Chardonnay and massive knickers.
If you’re sitting on your sofa with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s wondering where to start, you’ve come to the right place. We are currently in 2026, and the franchise has grown quite a bit since Bridget first obsessively counted her calories in a fuzzy pajama set.
The Correct Bridget Jones Diary Movies Order (By Release and Story)
Because there aren't any weird time-jumps or origin stories set in the 1970s, the order you watch them is exactly the order they hit theaters. Simple. Easy. V.G. (Very Good).
- Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
- Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
- Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)
- Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)
That's it. That is the whole list. You basically just follow Bridget from her "singleton" thirties into the chaos of marriage, motherhood, and eventually, the daunting world of being a widow navigating the TikTok era.
Wait. A widow? Yeah. We’ll get to that. It’s a bit of a gut-punch if you haven't kept up.
Why the Order Actually Matters for Your Sanity
You might think you can just jump in anywhere. You can't. If you watch Bridget Jones’s Baby before the original, you’ll be incredibly confused as to why everyone is making such a big deal about a blue soup or why Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver is such a legendary cad.
The emotional payoff in this series is built on decades of history. When you see Bridget and Mark Darcy (played by the eternally brooding Colin Firth) staring at each other in the snow, it hits harder if you’ve seen her fall into a pig pen first.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001): The One That Started It All
This is the holy grail of rom-coms. Directed by Sharon Maguire, it introduced us to Renée Zellweger’s perfect English accent—which, let’s be real, we all thought was real for a minute.
Bridget is 32, single, and convinced she’s going to die alone and be found three weeks later "eaten by Alsatians." It’s based loosely on Pride and Prejudice, with Colin Firth literally playing a man named Darcy. Meta, right?
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Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
The sequel is... a choice. It’s mostly famous for the scene where Bridget ends up in a Thai prison. It’s definitely the "messy middle child" of the franchise.
Critics weren't kind to this one, but if you're doing a marathon, you can't skip it. You need to see the jealousy and the misunderstanding that almost ruins her "happily ever after" with Mark. Plus, Hugh Grant is at his absolute peak sleaze here.
Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)
There was a massive 12-year gap here. In that time, Bridget grew up, but she didn't necessarily get less clumsy.
The plot? Bridget is 43, single again, and pregnant. The catch? She doesn't know if the father is Mark Darcy or a charming American billionaire named Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey). This movie brought back the magic that the second one lacked. It’s funny, it’s heart-wrenching, and it actually felt like a proper "grown-up" Bridget story.
The Big 2025 Shift: Mad About the Boy
Now we get to the latest entry that everyone was talking about last year. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was released in February 2025, and it changed the vibe of the series significantly.
If you are following the Bridget Jones diary movies order, this is your final stop for now.
The Twist Most People Get Wrong
In the books by Helen Fielding, Mark Darcy dies. For years, fans wondered if the movies would actually go there. In 2025, they did. Bridget is now a 51-year-old widow with two kids.
It sounds depressing. Honestly, it kind of is at first. But the movie handles her re-entry into the dating world—including a fling with a much younger man played by Leo Woodall—with a lot of grace.
- Director: Michael Morris
- New Faces: Leo Woodall (the "Roxster") and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
- The Return: Hugh Grant is back as Daniel Cleaver, and honestly, he’s the comic relief we desperately needed.
How the Books Mess Up the Movie Order
If you decide to read the books, be careful. The book order is NOT the same as the movie order. This is where most people get tripped up.
Helen Fielding wrote Mad About the Boy as the third book in 2013. But the movie Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) was actually based on columns Fielding wrote later, which were then turned into a book after the movie came out.
The "Real" Story Order for Book Lovers:
- Bridget Jones’s Diary
- The Edge of Reason
- Bridget Jones’s Baby: The Diaries (This takes place before Mad About the Boy)
- Mad About the Boy
If you try to read them in publication order, you’ll find Mark Darcy dead in book three and then miraculously alive and becoming a father in book four. It’s a mess. Stick to the movie order listed above if you want a coherent narrative.
What Really Happened With Mark Darcy?
The fan reaction to Mad About the Boy was pretty polarized. Seeing Bridget without Mark felt like seeing Batman without Robin, or peanut butter without jelly.
But the 2025 film reminds us that Bridget was always the hero of her own story. It wasn't ever really about the men; it was about her surviving the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (and her own embarrassing mistakes).
Actionable Tips for Your Bridget Jones Marathon
If you’re planning to watch all four, here is the best way to do it:
- Space them out. Don't binge them all in six hours. The jump from 2004 Bridget to 2016 Bridget is jarring if you don't give it a day to breathe.
- Watch for the cameos. Look out for real-life authors like Salman Rushdie in the first movie.
- Check the soundtrack. The music is a huge part of the DNA of these films. From "All by Myself" to the 2025 score by Dustin O'Halloran, it’s a vibe.
- Streaming status. As of early 2026, the first three are scattered across various platforms, but the fourth, Mad About the Boy, is primarily on Peacock in the US.
The best way to enjoy the Bridget Jones diary movies order is to embrace the cringe. Bridget is us. She is the person who says the wrong thing at the funeral and gets her skirt caught in her tights. Starting from 2001 and ending in 2025 is a long journey, but it's one of the most rewarding "human" franchises out there.
Get your chardonnay ready. Just try not to fall off any exercise bikes while you're watching.
Next Step: Check your local streaming listings for Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) to start your rewatch, as licensing often shifts at the start of the new year.