Steamy sex scenes were my favourite… I’m very naked, it was my choice says Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan
NICOLA COUGHLAN’S confidence bloomed as she swapped her Derry Girls school uniform for Bridgerton’s period gowns.
And it is a good job, because she will need every ounce of that chutzpah as she today becomes the Netflix bonkbuster’s latest leading lady.
The regency romp came under fire for a limp second series, with a meagre three minutes of bedroom action amid eight hours and 29 minutes of screen time.
But The Sun can reveal there will be more than FOUR TIMES that amount in the raunchy third outing. The first four episodes land today, and already include over six minutes of kissing, sex, threesomes and lesbian love-making — with lots more to come.
This series follows Nicola, 37, as Penelope Featherington, who is exploring her feelings for close friend Colin Bridgerton (played by Luke Newton). And the first part culminates in an X-rated scene as tension between them erupts.
The series is based on a string of published romance novels by Julia Quinn, so there is some clue what the second part — which lands on June 13 and covers episodes four to eight — will entail.
On top of lusty bedroom scenes, there are romps in a horse-drawn carriage, outdoor sex and a sizzling storyline between another man and a cougar. In fact, the action becomes so steamy, Nicola has revealed she had to request a “PG version” of the show to air for her family.
Speaking this week in the run-up to launch, the Irish actress said: “It’s literally written into my contract. People think I’m saying it as a joke. I grew up Irish Catholic, that’s just not how we vibe.”
Nicola will need that family-friendly edit more than ever as she takes centre stage.
‘Amazingly empowering’
Playing Penelope is a job she absolutely relishes. But she revealed: “It was definitely intimidating. Hundreds of millions of people watch the show. That’s really scary.
“But [the sex scenes] was one of the things I enjoyed most. Luke and I had a real hand in what we did and how it came across. Thankfully we had that physical comfort with one another, so it ended up being a really beautiful thing.”
Of the bodice-ripping action, she added: “It’s steamy! I was like, ‘Oh wow, are we really doing that?’.”
Bridgerton has captivated global audiences, with the first series breaking records when it was viewed by over 82million households in its first four weeks.
Even the less-loved second season surpassed that as the most watched English-language Netflix series ever.
It is expected the third will exceed all previous records, with anticipation at fever pitch. The show has catapulted Nicola from pigtailed schoolgirl Clare Devlin in Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls to global fame.
It just felt like the biggest ‘f**k you’ to all the conversations surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering. Having now watched those scenes, I’m so proud of them.
She now has an Instagram following of 3.1million, a net worth of some £1.5million and is pals with the likes of Kim Kardashian.
But the actress, born in Galway to an army veteran dad and housewife mother, has remained refreshingly down to earth.
And that’s never more apparent than in the curvy star’s approach to her sex scenes in series three. She said: “There is one where I am very naked on camera and that was my idea, my choice.
“It just felt like the biggest ‘f**k you’ to all the conversations surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering. Having now watched those scenes, I’m so proud of them.”
In a chat with Radio Times this week, she added: “This industry can be very narrow-minded. Within reason, anyone can play anything. I would never feel like I couldn’t do something.
“You can change your accent, your hair, your build. If I’m going to play a bodybuilder, I’m going to go to the gym and get hench. People can feel hemmed in, but I feel like I’ve refused to be and I’m going to continue to do so.”
‘Bonking opportunities for all!’
It’s not just Nicola and Luke, 31, who get busy in the new season.
Luke said: “I feel like you’re expecting that with this show, but I think we’ve really ramped it up. It’s steamy across the board — there’s lots of people across the ’Ton that are at it, not just us.” Nicola added: “There are bonking opportunities for all!”
It’s a far cry from the years she spent trying to make it as an actress, when she worked at an optician’s and as a waitress. She laughed: “It’s funny because people see you at fancy events and think you must be fancy.
“No, no, I was making frozen yogurt in Westfield [shopping centre] not long ago. This is not normal for me!”
- Watch Bridgerton series three on Netflix today. Part two follows on June 13.
