ES Bridgerton Interview with Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton

Evening Standard

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00:00Congrats, guys.

00:01Thank you.

00:02How did it feel having your series come around?

00:05Was it exciting? Was it nerve-wracking?

00:07A bit of everything, really.

00:09I feel like we'd been preparing for it for a good couple of years,

00:14and we knew during season two,

00:16but nothing can really prepare you for that, for that first day on set.

00:19No, it's terrifying.

00:20It's such a huge show, and you know how beloved it is.

00:23It's an interesting show in that it's a different lead couple every year,

00:26so you hope people will get on board.

00:28And also, once we knew the storylines for season three,

00:31I was like, we're goals in, this is great.

00:34But then in seasons one and two,

00:35you've just seen Penn pining over Colin and him not reciprocating it.

00:39But then I think the moment that we started to get into it,

00:43I was like, we're good.

00:45Yeah.

00:46Nice. I mean, was it fun getting to delve into that,

00:49the side of your character's sexuality?

00:51I guess Penn has a sexual awakening, I suppose, over the course of the season.

00:54Oh, hugely, yeah.

00:55Was that fun, intimidating?

00:57It was both. It was really, really scary,

00:59because obviously we've been friends for years,

01:01and thinking about kissing your friend is kind of a terrifying prospect.

01:06But we just sort of went with it,

01:09and we had an incredible intimacy coordinator

01:11who helped us feel like we had a lot of agency and stuff.

01:13And they were some of the most fun things to film,

01:16because we felt so in control.

01:18Yeah.

01:19And watching them back as well, it is a bit terrifying before,

01:22but weirdly, when I've watched them, I'm like,

01:24oh, I really love those scenes, actually.

01:26They're really beautiful.

01:27Were there fun moments, or was it very serious and respectful?

01:30No.

01:31That's the way I think we took it on.

01:33Yeah, for sure.

01:34We would laugh about the situation, really.

01:37I remember the first time in the intimacy stuff that we wore,

01:41and I knew that I was...

01:43Actually, I don't know how much I can say,

01:45but I just basically had to prepare Nicola.

01:47He gave me a little preview of what I was about to see.

01:50He was like, Nick, you've got to see this before we go.

01:53It's quite a... It's not even a garment.

01:55I don't know what I would call it.

01:57If she sees this first time on camera, she'll just laugh at me.

02:00He only had something on the front of his body and nothing on the back.

02:04So it was quite... I was like, okay.

02:06A man has to have some dignity.

02:08Yeah.

02:09And in terms of, like, Nicola, for you,

02:11what was your favourite relation to explore?

02:13That with Colin or that with Eloise?

02:15I love them both, but I think...

02:17No, no, no, no.

02:19Because I've had two beautiful seasons with Claudia,

02:22I really loved the relationship with Colin this season

02:26because we get to go through so much.

02:28You know, they have this really beautiful abiding friendship

02:31and then they're really annoyed at one another.

02:33Well, she's really annoyed at him at the beginning.

02:35It has so many peaks and troughs.

02:37You get into the romance, you get into who they truly are.

02:41So that was...

02:42We kind of swapped dynamics, really.

02:44Hugely.

02:45We've kind of had the same dynamic for two seasons

02:48and then we get to... Now it starts to evolve

02:51and it almost flips for Penelope and Eloise,

02:54where they're not getting on at the start.

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