Bridgerton creator Shonda Rhimes says filming the drama and its spin-off Queen Charlotte in England has prompted her to consider relocating to the UK.

The US producer, who is behind some of the most popular TV dramas of the past two decades, told Sky News working in Britain had been a “really welcoming experience”, adding: “I’ve been spending a little bit more time over here and I’m going to try to spend even more if I can swap my kids into a British school.

“I’m trying to figure that part out, but I do really love being here and it’s always been such a great experience.”

Rhimes’ vast contribution to television has been recognised at this year’s Edinburgh TV festival, where she was given its inaugural fellowship award for the global impact of her shows.

Her first huge hit was Grey’s Anatomy. The medical drama, which began in 2005, is now in its 22nd season.

But finding an abandoned novel in a hotel room would motivate her to write Bridgerton, the drama that has become the biggest show on Netflix.

While its steamier scenes are often what garner most attention, she says after reading the books, she came to see it as a “workplace drama”.

“These are women in their workplace because, in a world in which they have no power, they have no ability to do anything else; their only value is who they marry and their only worth is focused into that,” she adds.

‘Bizarre’ criticism

Rhimes agrees there is something inherently condescending about the way critics use terms like “guilty pleasure” to describe her dramas.

“There are certain people for whom the world of women will never be considered as serious or as complex or as interesting as the world of men,” she says.

Rhimes says she finds some of the reaction to her decision to reflect a diverse range of actors in Bridgerton’s cast “bizarre” after critics accused the show’s makers of “pandering to woke culture”.

She said: “The idea that I am writing the show looking like I look, that it wouldn’t occur to me that there should be more people in the show who look like me, I feel like that’s an obvious point. Why would I write something that doesn’t include me in any way?”

Given the thousands of episodes of drama she’s written over the years, she’s all too aware that it’s likely artificial intelligence is probably being used to scrape her scripts.

“There’s a danger of AI learning from my episodes, maybe it will learn to be better at what it does, but, most importantly, I don’t think that there’s any substitute for that germ of creativity that comes from a human imagination, I really don’t.”

As for what she enjoys watching on TV, her eyes light up when I mention having heard she’s a massive fan of a certain British sci-fi classic.

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“Oh my God, I’ve loved Doctor Who forever! Forever!” she says, describing writer Russell T Davies’ work as “amazing”.

She adds: “For a while, people were like ‘what’s wrong with you?’ because they didn’t know the show. I fell in love with the David Tennant years, and I haven’t been able to let it go because of the writing.”

I ask if she’s ever considered a crossover episode.

She laughs: “I don’t know if there’s a Bridgerton meets Doctor Who…, but I would work with Russell at any time.”

Week 0 is college football’s oft-ignored start to the season. The good stuff doesn’t generally happen until the smorgasbord of Labor Day weekend.

This year, though, it begins with a unique bang. Consider that, right now in some Dublin pub, two fan bases from Middle America are likely baffling locals by arguing not merely over their teams but the per-acre yields of wheat vs. corn.

It’s Iowa State and Kansas State to kick things off — in Ireland no less.

It’s Farmageddon on the old sod, or Farm O’Geddon, as some have dubbed it this year.

The rural-rooted and wonderfully self-aware rivalry is getting a rare but well-deserved turn in the spotlight.

These are two proud and solid programs. Both are nationally ranked. The Wildcats check in at No. 17, and the Cyclones at 22. It’s a Big 12 game with conference title and national playoff implications.

“It’s certainly a great opportunity, and we certainly feel honored to be able to be a part of it,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said.

It’s also a reminder of how, even when college football is doing something well, the sport’s self-destructive ways can hang over everything.

This is the 109th consecutive meeting between these two schools, a run that dates to 1917.

Yet in 2027, there will be no scheduled game; Farmageddon’s streak will be a casualty of conference realignment.

The series predates the old Big Eight, which is now called the Big 12 even though it has 16 members, complicating everything. Trying to manage a schedule in a league that large is a massive challenge. The conference relies on what it calls a “scheduling matrix” to get it done.

The Big 12 chose just four long-standing rivalries to be “protected” and thus forced into the matrix each season: Arizona-Arizona State, BYU-Utah, Baylor-TCU and Kansas State-Kansas.

Those make sense — each is an intense, in-state clash. K-State would rather assure a game against Kansas than Iowa State, just as Iowa State wants to make sure it plays Iowa, of the Big Ten, each year in nonconference play.

Scheduling is tough. Sometimes something has to give.

Still, Farmageddon’s run of games is longer than Texas-Oklahoma, Michigan-Ohio State and the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn. While Iowa State-Kansas State will be played again in future seasons, any break feels unfortunate.

Obviously, the rivalry isn’t nearly as storied as those. Both teams have endured lengthy periods where even mediocrity would have been welcomed. Still, there is something endearing about tradition. It isn’t just for the winners.

The strength of college football isn’t the blue bloods, or at least it isn’t solely in the blue bloods. Yes, the powerhouse teams drive the boat and command the television ratings. Every sport has that, though.

What college football has is everything else, everywhere else. The nation’s 136 FBS-level programs hail from more than 40 states. They are in big cities and tiny towns. There are big state schools and small private ones, religious institutions and military academies. Not everyone expects a national title. Or even a conference one.

This is an American creation that represents America in the broadest sense. That is: None of it makes sense except all of it makes sense. The passion. The pageantry. The pride.

That includes these weird neighborhood rivalries. Leagues were once formed because of familiarity or cultural commonality. You went to one school, your neighbor another. The geographic footprint mattered. Now it’s all about media rights and money.

The Big Ten has 18 teams. The Atlantic Coast Conference has two schools overlooking the Pacific Ocean. And the Big 12 is so big that the Kansas State-Iowa State rivalry — which survived world wars, droughts and depressions — can be brushed to the side.

Saturday’s game is a showcase for what needs to be maintained against the avalanche of money. It’s old-school stuff featuring two programs with reasonable expectations that mostly just want a taste of the big time and all the fun that comes with it.

So they’ve invested in it — as institutions and individuals. Try explaining to some Irishman that the 50,000-seat Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium in the Little Apple of Manhattan, Kansas, is larger than any sporting venue in the Big Apple of Manhattan, New York.

Or that Iowa State running back Abu Sama III is already a school legend for racking up 276 yards and scoring four touchdowns during a winter storm in 2023 at Kansas State.

That game will be forever known as Snowmageddon.

The tradition continues in Ireland, of all places, now with everyone watching. It’s a fitting moment for an overlooked series. It’s also a reminder to appreciate what this sport can produce, because even the good stuff isn’t necessarily safe.

NEW YORK — The Boston Red Sox are pulling Walker Buehler from their rotation and sending the struggling right-hander to the bullpen.

“It’s going to be his new role,” manager Alex Cora said Friday before the Red Sox continued a four-game series with the Yankees. “We’ll figure out how it goes, maybe one inning, multiple innings. Whatever it is, we don’t know yet.”

Buehler’s next scheduled start would have been the opener of a four-game series in Baltimore on Monday. The Red Sox did not immediately announce who would take his turn. Right-hander Richard Fitts, currently with the Red Sox, and left-hander Kyle Harrison, who is at Triple A after being acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, are options.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Buehler said. “It’s the first time in my career that I’ve been in a situation like that, but at the end of the day, the organization and, to a lesser extent, myself, kind of think it’s probably the right thing for our group and it gives me an opportunity to kind of reset in some ways.”

In his first season with the Red Sox after seven seasons with the Dodgers, Buehler is 7-7 with a 5.40 ERA in 22 starts and has allowed a career-worst 21 homers. He was 4-1 with a 4.28 ERA in his first six starts but is 3-6 with a 6.37 ERA over his past 16 outings. He also missed two weeks in May because of bursitis in his pitching shoulder.

“He’s been very frustrated with the way he has pitched,” Cora said. “I still believe in him. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Buehler last started in Wednesday’s 11-inning loss to the Orioles and allowed two runs in four innings while throwing 75 pitches. It was the ninth time this season he did not complete five innings.

After the game, he didn’t fault Cora for the quick hook.

“At some point, the leash I’m given has been earned,” he told reporters. “I think they did the right thing in coming to get me before the [Gunnar] Henderson at-bat. Our bullpen has been great. For me, personally, I think everything went according to plan until the fifth. You go double, four-pitch walk. The way I’ve been throwing it, it all kind of makes sense.”

Buehler also issued 54 walks in 110 innings this season for a career-high 4.4 walks per nine innings.

The Red Sox signed Buehler to a one-year, $21.05 million contract in December. The deal contains an additional $2.5 million in performance bonuses. The Red Sox also gave Buehler a $3.05 million signing bonus and includes a $25 million mutual option for 2026 with a $3 million buyout.

Buehler was 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA and pitched 75⅓ innings in the 2024 regular season for the Dodgers after missing all of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery. He helped the Dodgers win their second championship since 1988 by going 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA and pitched a perfect ninth for the save in Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees.

Buehler’s only previous relief experience was eight appearances as a rookie in 2017. His last relief appearance was June 28, 2018, when he allowed a run in five innings after missing time because of a rib injury.

A two-time All Star in 2019 and 2021, Buehler is 54-29 in 153 appearances. He finished fourth in voting for the National League Cy Young Award in 2021 after going 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 33 starts when he threw 207⅔ innings.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.