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No Derry Girls reunion on the horizon, says Nicola Coughlan

Bridgerton star says show wrapped up in ‘perfect package’

Shahana Yasmin
Friday 07 June 2024 11:14 BST
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Liam Neeson makes cameo in Derry Girls season 3

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Nicola Coughlan has said there is no chance of new Derry Girls episodes being filmed any time soon.

The Bridgerton star said she believes the show was wrapped up in a “perfect package”.

“I wouldn’t want to go back because I wouldn’t want to taint it,” she told BBC News at the Dublin premiere of the second part of Bridgerton’s third season.

Coughlan, who plays the season lead Penelope Featherington in the Netflix series opposite Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton, said she’s happy to see Siobhán McSweeney win the Bafta for her role as Sister Michael in Derry Girls.

“It’s incredible to see Siobhán go on to win the Bafta,” Coughlan said. “But I would like to work with them again in another iteration.”

The Channel 4 sitcom, written by Lisa McGee, follows a group of teenagers navigating growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

A still from Derry Girls
A still from Derry Girls (Channel 4)

Fans had been eagerly waiting for the third season of the period romance Bridgerton as it follows wallflower Penelope’s friends-to-lovers romance with Colin, but will have to wait a little longer for the second half after the first four episodes ended on a cliffhanger.

The show is popular worldwide, with its sex scenes garnering particular attention.

However, Coughlan previously joked that she had it written into her contract that a PG cut be provided for her parents.

“My sister’s here tonight. I have mixed feelings about it,” she said at the premiere, referring to the sex scenes.

“I was like, ‘When I walk into a room and there’s a mirror there, just close your eyes for a few minutes.’”

Nicola Coughlan as Penelope and Luke Newton as Colin in Bridgerton
Nicola Coughlan as Penelope and Luke Newton as Colin in Bridgerton (Netflix)

Coughlan has also talked about requesting more nude scenes while working with Bridgerton’s intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot after trolls made relentless comments about her body leading up to filming.

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She told Stylist that one particular scene in which she is “very naked on camera” was designed to be the “biggest f*** you” to all of the “conversation surrounding my body” online.

“I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought, ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f***ing hot I looked,’” she said.

The first part of the third season of Bridgerton hit Netflix on 16 May and the second follows on 13 June.

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