‘It makes you feel very empowered,’ the actor said

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has explained why fans will be surprised by the sex scenes in the third season of the hit Netflix romance series.

The Derry Girls actor, 37, stars as Penelope Featherington in the new season, alongside Luke Newton as her love interest Colin Bridgerton.

Coughlan revealed she and Newton had been holding back chemistry between them for the past two series because their characters weren’t “meant to be in love”.

Speaking to Metro, the Big Mood star admitted there had been a “eureka moment” between her and Newton when they realised it was time to let their romantic guard down.

“It was like we held on and held on and then when we were ready to go, it was like, ‘There it is,’” she said.

Coughlan said she had worked closely with Bridgerton’s intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot on every sex scene.

She explained Talbot didn’t give her or Newton choreography “like a dance” or “stunt” but instead gave them a “framework” to move within.

Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton in ‘Bridgerton’ (Netflix)

“We knew we had to hit certain points, but we were able to flow with it and make it seem natural and organic,” she said. “It’s amazing having that control. It makes you feel very empowered.”

Coughlan previously said she requested more nude scenes in Bridgerton season three while working with Talbot.

The star opted to include shots without clothes after trolls relentlessly made comments about her body online leading up to filming.

Coughlan as Penelope in ‘Bridgerton’ (LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX)

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.

In 2022, Coughlan posted a message on Instagram asking her fans to stop sharing their opinions about her body.

“Most people are being nice and not trying to be offensive but I am just one real-life human being and it’s really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day,” she wrote.

“If you have an opinion about me that’s OK, I understand I’m on TV and that people will have things to think and say but I beg you not to send it to me directly.”

She later told the Irish Times: “All I care about is the work. Bodies change, if I lose weight or gain weight or I do anything it’s no one’s business, all I care about is doing good acting and being judged on that.”