Bridgerton re-imagined on TikTok by US singer Abigail Barlow

Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan (left) as Penelope Featherington, and Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton

US period drama Bridgerton has been re-imagined on the social media platform TikTok by singer Abigail Barlow.

The American has started work on a musical version of Chris Van Dusen's hit new Netflix show.

So far it includes original songs based on the show. Other users can add their own verses using the app's Duet feature.

Barlow and her writing partner Emily Bear have "big dreams" of turning it into a full-scale production.

"I've always posted my original music on TikTok so this was no different," she explained to to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday.

"I was just so inspired on a different level of someone else's creativity. I thought, immediately, 'Well, this could be something that I could see on stage so I put it on TikTok just like I do [with] my pop songs that I write; and immediately people started getting invested and really wanted to hear more.

Abigail Barlow is a pop singer and TikTokker

"So from then on it just became like a rocket that has been shooting since the first song. It's amazing."

The songs Oceans Away and Burn for You have been widely shared on TikTok, leading to the pair recording fully orchestrated versions.

The show is based on a series of historical romance novels written by Julia Quinn and focuses on the Bridgerton family - a widow and her eight offspring as they navigate high society in Regency England.

Burn for You is about the relationship between two of Bridgerton's leads, Simon (Regé-Jean Page) and Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor).

It launched on Netflix on Christmas Day and has been described as a Regency-era Gossip Girl.

It's been a huge hit for the streaming giant, having been watched by 63m households in its first three weeks alone.

Broadway beckons?

Singer Barlow believes the stories and the characters in the show were crying out to be sung about.

"I love the dialogue in Bridgerton and there was this incredible line that one of the characters says - 'You do not understand what it's like to be in a room with someone you can't live without and feel like you're oceans away from them'," she continued.

"And my god if that's not a song right there! I just went straight to my piano and set up my camera and started writing."

Barlow and Bear confirmed they have "big plans" for "a full concept" - including further songs for the show's characters Penelope and Eloise - that could one day, they hope, make it to Broadway and the West End.

Bear added that the ultimate aim is to help in "bringing life back into musical theatre", which has remained dormant for most of the pandemic.

Bridgerton is not the first big on-screen inspiration for a subsequent musical, via the same social media platform.

At the start of this year, a musical version of the 2007 movie Ratatouille went from TikTok pipe dream to hour-long reality, raising $1m (£732,000) for a US actors charity.