Co-creators Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. photo: Igor Kasvanvuk/Barlow&Bear

THE sometimes stuffy surrounds of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington were due to get a lick of humour next month with Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear preparing to perform their Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.

Many might feel it’s a shame, then, that the show was abruptly cancelled this week amid legal action by Netflix.

The pair had “gone viral” on the video-scrolling social media site TikTok by imagining the risqué corset drama as a musical show. So viral in fact, they collected 35 million “likes” and decided to make an album of the songs it spawned. Naturally, it then won a Grammy.

Netflix, the story goes, were OK with the album but big live shows were too much to stomach.

“What started as a fun celebration by Barlow & Bear on social media has turned into the blatant taking of intellectual property solely for Barlow & Bear’s financial benefit,” said the show’s executive producer Shonda Rhimes.

“Just as Barlow & Bear would not allow others to appropriate their IP for profit, Netflix cannot stand by and allow Barlow & Bear to do the same with Bridgerton.”

The Royal Albert Hall was arranging refunds yesterday.