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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jasmine Allday

Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan found final series of Derry Girls very 'stressful'

Nicola Coughlan has admitted it was very "stressful" filming the final series of Derry Girls.

The Bridgerton star appears as much-loved character Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 show, which will end this year after one more final series, but she admits it was tough filming the last few scenes of the final episode because of her packed schedule.

Nicola is also internationally famous for her role as Penelope Featherington in the hit Netflix show but in the final moments of filming the end of popular Derry Girls, she found it difficult to split her schedule between the two shows.

Nicola stars as Clare in Derry Girls (Channel 4)

"I think, because it was filming in COVID and it was really stressful, I don't know that we really processed it. It was weird. I think it's a show that now it really feels like it belongs to the fans, if that make sense," she told Radio Times.

She described filming as a "blur" because she had no time off between finishing filming Bridgerton and starting on Derry Girls.

She admitted: "It felt like a blur because I wrapped Bridgerton on a Friday morning - Shondaland were really kind to me and compacted all my final scenes and it was heavy going because it was all the big stuff for Penelope.

Nicola had to balance Derry Girls and Bridgerton filming (Channel 4)

"Wrapped on a Friday morning, flew on the Saturday, costume and makeup on the Sunday and into set with Derry Girls on a Monday. So my head was fried. But yeah, Shondaland, I'm eternally grateful that they kind of made that work and made it happen. The experience was a blur, but the scripts are great. They're always great."

Nicola had previously explained how she was on first call for Bridgerton, which meant she couldn't film as much Derry Girls and thus had her role in the final series cut back to cope with the changed filming schedules.

Nicola plays Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton (LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX)

"They were like, 'No, we're gonna wait.' And I was like, 'oh', so we had to make compromises happen in the script of Derry Girls. It was devastating to me because I wanted to be in all of this," she explained.

"But compromises had to be made. And you know, they had to cut down my role somewhat, which was hard. Really, really hard. But I think, you know, the fans of the show are going to be happy."

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