Bigger than Bridgerton? Netflix shows off new show that could win fans' hearts

Netflix might have been taken aback a couple of years ago when Bridgerton first skyrocketed into position as one of its very biggest shows, but it seems to have taken plenty of lessons from that success already.

Fresh from the show's third season doing huge numbers and treating fans to another raunchy season of will-they-won't-they, Netflix has another adults-only costume drama just around the corner: The Decameron, which starts streaming on 25 July and just got its first full trailer. 

The Decameron | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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The show is set in 1348, a heck of a long time before Bridgerton's imagined version of the Regency court, but it looks even more fantastical - it only takes a few seconds of that trailer to make clear that old-school accents are out of the window despite its setting in Florence.

With that famous city ravaged by the bubonic plague, a group of elite aristocrats retreat to a country estate to try to outlast the Black Death, and from there it looks like things will be getting pretty steamy. After all, there's nothing like tight quarters for romance to flourish in.

This era of giant platforms constantly fighting it out to be declared the reigning best streaming service means that each is only ever as robust as its next hit series, and Netflix will be hoping that The Decameron fits that billing. 

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Given how Apple TV+ keeps snapping up huge names to star in its shows and movies, from Brad Pitt to George Clooney and Matt Damon just in the last couple of months of announcements, being able to lock down a genre like costume romance could count for a lot for Netflix, too. 

The Decameron has some very familiar faces in it, too, including the likes of Derry Girls' Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Sex Education's Tanya Reynolds and Girls' Zosia Mamet - making for alumni from three pretty massive hit shows from the last decade or so. 

One key difference between the show and Bridgerton to go with the rest, in fairness, is that instead of a long series of romance novels, this one's loosely adapted from a historical parable by Giovanni Boccaccio, so it'll be interesting to see just how 'out there' it gets when it arrives in a couple of weeks' time.