Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy, played by Renee Zelweger and Colin Firth.
Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy, played by Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth.
The world's most popular "chubby" single girl with "enormous panties" is making a comeback.

Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy are set to return to the big screen for the third instalment of the film franchise of Helen Fielding's popular '90s newspaper column turned best-selling book series.

According to reports in the UK, the film will be released in late 2012 and will be titled Bridget Jones' Baby.

"This character has obviously inhabited part of my life and it does look as if it's going somewhere."

No details about the script have been released however in Fielding's final column in The Independent newspaper in 2006 she wrote of falling pregnant to Hugh Grant's lothario character Daniel Cleaver.

According to the Metro newspaper, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig was originally earmarked to sit in the director's chair for the British romantic comedy but The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo will spearhead the new project to begin filming in early 2012.

The third film will mark the return of the carbohydrate-consuming, weight conscious, chain-smoking Bridget played by a bloated Renee Zellweger as she navigates an awkward love triangle between Cleaver, her ex-lover playboy and the stuffy Mr Darcy.

The last time audiences heard from Bridget was in 2004 in The Edge of Reason, the critically panned sequel to the original box office hit Bridget Jones' Diary.

Mr Darcy had proposed and she caught the bouquet at her parent's vow renewal ceremony.

Earlier this year pop singer Lily Allen told Elle magazine she was working on a musical score believed to be for the upcoming show Bridget Jones: The Musical which will open on London's West End in 2012.

twitterFollow Jenna Clarke on Twitter @JennaMClarke
facebookLike My Jennaration on Facebook