Derry Girls actor Nicola Gloughlin said contractual obligations meant she had to drop out of this week's episode.
A family day out saw the Derry girls and wee English fella make their way to a theme park and whilst most of the gang was there, Clare got the short end of the straw. After a mad dash to the train saw everyone barely make it in time, Clare was sadly left behind as she was stuck in the restroom.
With only Sister Michael for company, neither party was thrilled to be left stranded. As the rest of the squad went ahead and enjoyed their day full of rides and mischief, Clare had to settle for speaking to the station's ticket master.
READ MORE: Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee explains why there won't be a fourth series
The reason for the odd departure from the group was because she found herself entangled in other engagements. Taking on the role of Clare, Nicola McGloughlin is an actor in high demand as she has ties to one of Netflix's biggest shows.
Nicola also plays Penelope Featherington in the Regency-era drama Bridgerton. Due to covid regulations and schedules having to be moved, both Derry Girls and Bridgerton had an overlap, with the latter coming out on top for priority.
Nicola said due to the contracts and tight schedules, it was stressful trying to work on both parts at the same time. She added: "I was filming Bridgerton on the Friday and started Derry Girls on the Monday.
"I was stressed out in my mind about it, like, 'I don't even know how to do this.' But it's weird, you just slip right back in. There wasn't enough time to even think about it. Last year was really difficult. I won't lie because, you know, at the best of times trying to manage different projects, it's such a push and pull.
She added: "We were meant to film Derry Girls in January 2021. And I was totally free and they decided to push it again. And that caused me insane stress because I was on [what] in the industry is called first call. So it means you have to go and do the show that you're on first call to, which was Bridgerton.
"And I was like 'Guys, can we just film it?' And they were like, 'No, we're gonna wait.' 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. But compromises had to be made."
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