Spare a thought for all the Bridget Jones fans out there who will be delighted to hear that Renée Zellweger is reviving the iconic character for a fourth film, then devastated to learn Colin Firth won’t be in it.

After months of speculation, the news was confirmed by Universal Pictures and Working Title with Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, set to be an adaptation of Helen Fielding’s 2013 best-selling novel.

The film has been slated for a Valentine’s Day release next year and sees Hugh Grant reprise his role as the sometimes-creepy-but-often-charming Daniel Cleaver, while Emma Thompson, who played Bridget’s doctor in the third film, also returns.

However, in sad news for a generation still obsessed with the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth will not don Mr Darcy’s silly Christmas sweater once more.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy picks up four years after the last film, with Bridget now a widow raising two small children after Mark Darcy is killed by a landmine in Sudan.

While fans of the franchise are unimpressed that Firth won’t be returning for the latest Jones film, there is a silver lining in the shape of Leo Woodall, the attractive young English guy from The White Lotus and One Day.

According to The Guardian, Woodall is rumoured to play “the hot 30-year-old with whom Bridget starts sleeping as she starts dating again following her bereavement”.