It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting "Cathy" and banging your head against a tree.

Fielding rejected this idea as too embarrassing[citation needed] and exposing and offered instead to create an imaginary exaggerated comic character. She studied English at St Anne's College Oxford and was part of the Oxford revue at the 1978 Edinburgh Festival forming a continuing friendship with a group of comic performers and writers including Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson. Directed by Sharon McGuire.

The two films of the same name have achieved worldwide success. Bridget Jones’s Diary was named as one of the ten novels that best defined the 20th century in a survey conducted by The Guardian newspaper.