Bridget Jones 3: Renee Zellweger swaps diary for iPad in first look picture for Bridget Jones's Baby

Colin Firth is believed to be returning to his role as Mark Darcy withPatrick Dempsey also on board

Renee Zellweger returns as our favourite literary heroine, and she's getting with the times (Universal)

Bridget Jones will be trading in her iconic diary for an oh-so-modern iPad in long-awaited threequel, Bridget Jones’s Baby.

Renee Zellweger is seen in the movie’s official first look picture, wearing a snuggly cream jumper and clinging to the tablet with a naughty grin.

Working Title shared the photo on their Twitter and Facebook pages ahead of the new film, details for which remain vague.

Storylines are hazy, with reports suggesting the script is based on author Helen Fielding’s newspaper columns instead of her third book, Mad About the Boy. Fans of the original novels will know that Colin Firth’s character and Bridget’s husband Mark Darcy was killed off in the latest literary instalment, leaving our heroine widowed with two young children, but perhaps (and hopefully) that won’t be the case on the big screen.

Firth is set to return to his lead part after telling The Independent last year that he was “ready for that moment”. “It would have to have somewhere to go,” he said when pressed to get cracking on the next film. “Back at the time I said that a third one should only happen if we were telling a story about having moved into a different generation when we were all beginning to deteriorate a little bit.”

Patrick Dempsey from Grey’s Anatomy is on board in an as-yet-unspecified role but sadly Hugh Grant will not be making a comeback as Daniel Cleaver. "Nice to be working in England," Dempsey wrote on Instagram last week. "Renee and Colin are an absolute joy to worth with! A good couple of days rehearsing at Pinewood Studios. I really like it here!"

Sharon Maguire, who directed the first 2001 film will be behind the helm again, having penned the screenplay with One Day author David Nicholls.

Shooting on Bridget Jones's Baby is expected to begin later this year.