Bridgerton
Series 3 episodes 1—4 available now on Netflix
‘I lived a whole life before Penelope’ Taking centre stage in the third series of Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan talks female emancipation, the politics of sex and how Derry Girls changed her life for ever THE RT INTERVIEW BY
K E L LY- A N N E T AY L O R
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Bridgerton is the period drama that ripped up the rule book and turned Regency England’s high society into the perfect breeding ground for love, lust and steamy sex. Forget shy glances across ballrooms, this is a series punctuated by desire – male leads in billowy shirts climbing out of ponds (dripping wet, of course) and couples who can’t keep their hands off each other (whether it’s in the library, the dining room, the garden…). The racy goings-on have captivated global audiences: the first series broke records when it was viewed by more than 82 million households in its first four weeks, and the second surpassed that as the most watched English-language Netflix series. Now in its third instalment, this season will focus on Colin Bridgerton (back from his travels with a six-pack, tan and noticeably buffer) and Penelope Featherington (the overlooked spinster and secret author of Lady Whistledown’s gossip sheet). Set on finding her match, Penelope ditches the gaudy, citrus dresses and goes about reinventing herself. Stepping firmly into the limelight as Penelope is Nicola Coughlan, the 37-year-old Irish actor who landed the role after just one audition. “I met the casting director’s assistant – I read for him and I thought I did a fine job,” she explains. “But I knew it was a Shondaland show for Netflix and thought, ‘This is going to be months of auditions. It’s going to be so protracted and terrifying – you’ll meet the execs, get to the table read and then get fired!’ You hear all these horror stories. So, I certainly didn’t expect anything from that first audition. Two weeks later I got a call offering me the job. I thought, ‘Where’s the catch?’”
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ans of the show have long been obsessed with Penelope and Colin’s will-they-won’tthey relationship. When it was recently teased that the actors had broken furniture while shooting an intimate scene and that Coughlan had a clause in her contract that means her parents get sent a PG-version of the show, it sent the internet into a tizz. Was Coughlan apprehensive about filming sex scenes with Luke Newton, who plays Colin? “Oh my gosh, it was definitely intimidating,” she confesses. “Hundreds of millions of people watch the show – not five. That’s really scary. But it was one of the things I enjoyed most. Luke and I had a real hand in what we did and how it came across. We decided what we wanted to show and how we wanted to choreograph the scenes. People often imagine intimacy coordinators saying, ‘Put your hand here’ or ‘Do this’ – and certain people do it like that, but I can always see it on screen. “We had agency and we could let it flow. Thankfully, we had that physical comfort with one another – so it ended up being a really beautiful thing. Luke is a dream to work with. We really had each other’s back. Having now watched those scenes, I’m so proud of them.” Part of Bridgerton’s success is down to its focus on the female gaze; it portrays sex that prioritises women’s pleasure. Are we in an era where ▷
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