Nicola Coughlan: ‘If I lose weight or gain weight it’s no one’s business - I want to be judged on good acting’
I tell her she’s selling herself short with “a solid seven”. Dewy-skinned and twinkly blue of eye, she’s at least a nine in any lighting, in my opinion. I’m happy to report she doesn’t disagree or attempt to deflect the compliment.The rationale for moving from Dublin to commuter counties has never been stronger
The fact that Lady Whistledown is voiced by Julie Andrews provided one of many pinch-me moments Coughlan, a huge fan of musical theatre and movies since childhood, has experienced in the last decade. Coughlan also says she is thrilled by how someone like Penelope Featherington, “the oddball in the corner” as she has described her character, and to some degree herself, can take centre stage in a romance saga. “Even if they don’t feel like they’re ready,” she smiles. “The great thing about signing a contract to work means even if you don’t think you can, you’re going to have to do it anyway. You better get it together. It’s your job.
For much of the two previous seasons her character had felt downtrodden and dismissed. Season three sees her desperate to leave home and out for the third time in the cut-throat marriage market where nobody has any expectations of her finding a match. But soon the tables turn and nature-loving vegetarian Lord Debling is seeing her as a potential wife, and the Ton’s newly most-eligible bachelor and Penelope’s friend Colin Bridgerton’s nose is put out of joint.
Nicola Coughlan's activism has been centred around the scrutiny of women’s bodies – especially those, like herself, in the public eye. Photograph: Liz Collins/Netflix Her wish to be judged on her acting has played out beautifully. Shonda Rhimes spotted her in Derry Girls and knew she had found her Penelope. Coughlan’s audition tape for Greta Gerwig’s phenomenally successful Barbie movie led to her being offered a substantial part, which she couldn’t accept because she was filming season two of Bridgerton. In the end, to her delight, they offered her a cameo.
My family would have been well within their rights to tell me, maybe this isn’t working out, but they didn’t. They had my back, aka eye-rolling Sister Michael, has become a regular on British television and stage. Louisa Harland, who played step aerobics-loving Orla, is currently starring as a gender non-conforming outlaw in the newshow Renegade Nell, while Dylan Llewellyn, who played hapless English lad James, has impressed in the acclaimed coming-of-age show Big Boys.
Big Mood review: Nicola Coughlan is fantastic but the same can’t be said for the rest of this unfunny, jarring show There’s been a tsunami of those previously mentioned pinch-me moments for Coughlan since Derry Girls became an international success story that counts Brad Pitt as a fan. They include: attending the Met Ball, becoming besties with Jonathan van Ness of Queer Eye and