Bridget Jones's Diary: How relevant is the popular singleton 25 years on from the book's publication?

As a new edition of the book is released, Mariella Frostrup and others look at whether the classic character is still relatable in today's world

Helen Fielding has published a 25th anniversary edition of Bridget Jones's Diary.

Love her or loathe her, Bridget Jones is here to stay. Fans of, and newcomers to, the 30-something chardonnay-swilling singleton can shortly bag a 25th anniversary edition of Bridget Jones’s Diary, with added extracts from author Helen Fielding’s early journalism and musings about Bridget Jones in the 21st century.

Millions of copies of the original, based on Jane Austen’s novel Pride And Prejudice and evolved from Fielding’s columns in The Independent newspaper, have been sold globally, spawning three further books and three film adaptations starring Renée Zellweger as Bridget and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy.