Shazzer does not make much of an appearance in the book. She is the only one of Bridget's close friends to leave London, having moved to Silicon Valley to become a "dot-com whizz" with her husband.

In the movie, not much is revealed about Shazzer's relationship status but she's still living in London and hosts a podcast. Shazzer is still close with Bridget, and at one point she babysits her children for a night so she can go on a date.

Early in the film, Bridget's neighbor shouts at her three children and threatens to send them to "Squid Game" if they don't behave.

Bridget sees this from across the road and calls her a "hero," but the neighbor doesn't appear for the rest of the film.

In the book, Bridget and the woman, who is called Rebecca, have more awkward interactions like the one in the film. Rebecca, who has two children, and Bridget eventually become friends and host playdates for one another.

When Bridget falls for Mr. Wallaker in the book, Rebecca helps her learn about his background, since her husband is his best friend.

In both the book and the film, Bridget tries to get herself out of a rut by returning to work a few years after Mark's death.

In the film, Bridget asks her former boss, Richard Finch (Neil Pearson), to get her a job as a producer on the morning news show "Better Woman." Miranda, Bridget's coworker and friend in "Bridget Jones' Baby," hosts the show alongside another woman called Talitha.

In the book, Bridget doesn't return to full-time work. Instead, she writes a movie script, adapting a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen called "Hedda Gabler." It's picked up by a studio, but they eventually replace Bridget with a full-time screenwriter because she is always distracted.

The film becomes a straight-to-DVD movie.

The film changes Bridget's relationship with her 29-year-old "toyboy" in a number of ways.

Instead of connecting with the charming, flirty Roxster McDuff (Leo Woodall) on Twitter as she does in the book, Bridget meets him when he rescues her and her children from a tree on London's Hampstead Heath. The two then reconnect when they match on a dating app.

In the book, their relationship ends after Roxster tells Bridget he thinks he should be with someone his own age. The two meet again and Roxster tries to win Bridget back.

In the film, Roxster suddenly ghosts Bridget without explanation, only to show up at the TV studio where she works weeks later to apologize.

But in both versions, Bridget realizes that the two are at different life stages and they have an emotional goodbye.

In the film, Daniel, the former playboy, has a teenage son named Enzo (Alessandro Bedetti), whom he doesn't see very often.

However, after being diagnosed with a heart murmur, Daniel reevaluates his life and decides to reconnect with him.

When we meet Enzo at Bridget's New Year's Eve party at the end of the film, he has inherited his father's womanizing ways, flirting outrageously with Bridget's friends.

In the book, Daniel doesn't have a son and is an aging bachelor. He does end up in hospital because of an alcohol dependency. Afterward, Bridget and others realize they need to prioritize their friendships with Daniel and keep an eye on him.

In both the film and the book, the health scare is a wake-up call for Daniel, but for different reasons.

In both the book and the film, Nicolette is the overbearing mother of twins who attend the same school as Bridget's son, Billy.

In the film, while Bridget is initially intimidated by Nicolette and her dedication to her children's education. But we see that her husband is a workaholic who is always on calls and her sons aren't as smart as she makes out.

The book delves deeper into Nicolette's story, revealing that her husband has been having an affair, and her world crumbles.

After Nicolette confides in Bridget, Bridget invites her over and the two spend a night drinking, eating junk food, and scrolling dating sites, cementing their unlikely friendship.

In the film, Bridget's nine-year-old son Billy (Casper Knopf) grieves his father's death and worries about forgetting him as he grows older.

His science teacher, Mr. Wallaker, eventually helps him work through this and perform a solo at the school's Christmas concert in honor of Mark.

This storyline is absent from the book, although Bridget does note in her diary entries that both Billy and Mabel were helped by an "army of bereavement counselors and therapists" in the aftermath of Mark's death.

When audiences first met Bridget in the 2001 movie, she was a single, 30-something Londoner whose New Year's resolution was to find a nice, sensible boyfriend.

Over the course of the four films, Bridget falls in love and marries human rights barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), but her path to her happily ever after wasn't exactly straightforward.

When audiences meet Bridget again in "Mad About the Boy," she's single once again but raising two children.

After embarking on an ill-fated fling with Rockster McDuff (Leo Woodall), a man twenty years her junior, Bridget finds herself falling for the stern, straight-laced science teacher, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

The two share a kiss in the street following a school Christmas concert, and in the final scene of the film, Mr. Wallaker is among those seen ringing in the New Year with Bridget and her loved ones.

Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) is Bridget's former boss. As audiences will recall from the first film, after flirting via instant messaging in the office, the two embark on a relationship that ends sourly when Bridget finds out that Daniel is cheating on her with — as she put it — an "American stick insect."

While Bridget and Daniel reconnect in Thailand in the second film, "The Edge of Reason," he is absent in the third film.

When we see Daniel in "Mad About The Boy," he and Bridget have a platonic, teasing relationship, deepened by their decades of friendship. He is even referred to as "Uncle Daniel" by Bridget's children and babysits them.

Still a bachelor in his 50s, Daniel has a much younger girlfriend at the start of the film. Following a health scare, however, Daniel breaks up with her.

When audiences last see Daniel at Bridget's party, he and Bridget's colleague and friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani) have hit it off, to put it delicately.

In the first film, Darcy is introduced as a human rights lawyer who has known Bridget since she was a toddler, running around naked in his paddling pool.

While they made an unlikely couple, Bridget and Mark eventually get together.

However, it's revealed in "Mad About The Boy" that Mark was killed on a humanitarian mission in Sudan four years before the events of the film, leaving Bridget a widow and single mother.

As a result, Mark is mostly absent from the latest installment, except for a couple of scenes in which Bridget reminiscences about life before the tragedy.

Shazzer is Bridget's bold, feminist friend who doesn't fear confrontation. In the first film, Bridget introduces Shazzer (Sally Phillips) as a journalist who "likes to say 'fuck' a lot."

Shazzer's personality has not changed much since the first film, and she now hosts a feminist podcast. She is last seen celebrating New Year's at Bridget's house.

Another close friend of Bridget is Tom (James Callis) an arrogant, drama-loving retired '80s pop icon.

In the first film, Tom uses his one-hit-wonder status to get laid. By the final film, he has become a life coach and is still single.

Rounding off Bridget's close friends is Jude (Shirley Henderson), the most emotional member of the friendship group.

In the first film, Jude is the head of investment at Brightlings, a fictional bank, and cries on multiple occasions to Bridget about her relationship problems.

In "Mad About The Boy," Jude has leveled up at work, but Bridget is not sure whether she is a "COO" or "CEO."

Bridget has always been close with her father, Colin (Jim Broadbent), even after her he and mother briefly split during the first movie. But Bridget does not have Colin as her rock in "Mad About The Boy."

Partway through the film, a flashback scene reveals that Colin died a few years prior. Before his death, Colin tries to persuade Bridget to live life to the fullest after he's gone and not wallow in grief.

Toward the end of the film, Bridget writes in her diary that she realizes what Colin meant by this while watching her son, Billy, overcome his grief to give with a genuine smile at his school's Christmas concert.

Despite often despairing of her daughter's sartorial choices and approach to dating, Pamela (Gemma Jones) has stuck by Bridget's side throughout the films.

In "Mad About The Boy," she has moved into a nursing home, which Bridget and the rest of the family have been instructed to refer to as a "hotel," alongside her lifelong pal Una (Celia Imrie).

Zellweger, 55, returns for the fourth time to play every millennial's favorite hot mess, Bridget Jones.

For the London premiere, Zellweger wore a hot-pink strapless dress with a long train designed by Balmain.

Her boyfriend, Ant Anstead, attended the premiere as well but didn't walk the carpet.

After skipping "Bridget Jones's Baby" in 2016, Grant, 64, returns for "Mad About the Boy" to play Bridget's former boss (and former boyfriend), Daniel Cleaver.

Last we heard of him, Daniel had been found alive after being presumed dead in a plane crash, so we're sure his reappearance in Bridget's life was a (somewhat) welcome surprise.

Grant kept it simple at the London premiere with a black suit and white shirt — it's almost identical to what he wore at the premiere of the first film in 2001, per Entertainment Weekly.

Grant attended the premiere with his wife, Eberstein, who wore a white minidress trimmed with fringe on the sleeves and hem.

Ejiofor, 47, joins the "Bridget Jones" universe in this film as Roxster, one of Bridget's new love interests after the death of her soulmate Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

At the London premiere, Ejiofor, an Oscar-nominated actor, wore a black suit over a navy shirt and tie.

Woodall is playing another one of Bridget's love interests, Mr. Wallaker, a teacher at her kids' school.

The 28-year-old is best known for his roles in the second season of "The White Lotus" and the Netflix series "One Day."

He walked the pink carpet in a corduroy brown suit and black shirt designed by Loewe.

His girlfriend and '"White Lotus" costar Meghann Fahy also attended the premiere but did not pose for photos.

Fisher, 48, is another new member of the "Bridget Jones" franchise. She's playing Rebecca, Bridget's new neighbor.

For the premiere, she wore a simple red dress designed by Marmar Halim.

Broadbent, 75, has been in all four "Bridget Jones" films as Bridget's father, Colin.

Jones, 82, plays Bridget's mother, Pamela, and has also appeared in all four films.

In the first "Bridget Jones" film, Pamela temporarily leaves her husband for a QVC host, but she returns home by the end of the film.

Callis plays one of Bridget's best friends, Tom, a musician who had one hit song in the '80s and has been able to support himself off that ever since.

The 53-year-old is also known for his roles in "Battlestar Galactica" and "Slow Horses."

On the pink carpet, he accessorized his black suit and overcoat with a tan scarf.

Henderson, 59, might be best known for playing Moaning Myrtle in the "Harry Potter" series, but she's also played Bridget's friend Jude in all four films.

She wore a black knee-length dress and black booties.

Parker, 20, plays the babysitter of Bridget's kids, Chloe. You might recognize Parker from her resemblance to her famous mother, Thandiwe Newton.

She wore a satin white dress designed by Chanel and uniquely shaped black heels.

Simon's role in "Mad About the Boy" has yet to be revealed, but the British actor is best known for her role in the '80s British sci-fi show "Blake's 7."

She wore a white dress with metallic silver pumps.

Farzad is playing another new character in "Mad About the Boy" named Nicolette.

She wore a magenta pantsuit with a brown belt.

Imrie, 72, has played Bridget's mom's best friend, Una, in all four films, including "Mad About the Boy."

She wore a black suit white with white satin lapels.

Solemani, 42, first joined the "Bridget Jones" franchise in the 2016 film "Bridget Jones's Baby" as one of Bridget's co-workers, Miranda, at the news station where she worked.

For the premiere, she wore a sheer black dress covered in black flowers with a black bodysuit underneath.

Fielding is the brain behind Bridget Jones. She wrote the original "Bridget Jones" columns in The Independent in 1995 and then three subsequent novels based on her columns.

Fielding, 66, also wrote the screenplays for all four "Bridget Jones" films.

For the premiere, Fielding wore a long-sleeved maroon gown with a daring slit and a keyhole cutout on top.

"Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" was directed by Michael Morris, who made his directorial debut in 2023 with the film "To Leslie."