Nicola Coughlan jokes about her ‘perfect breasts’ in Bridgerton sex scenes

The Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan said she was proud of her steamy sex scenes with her “perfect breasts” in the new series of the hit show.

The first part of Bridgerton’s third season has clocked up a staggering 45 million viewers in the first few days of release — the biggest opening numbers for the Netflix show.

Part two explores the romance between Penelope Featherington (Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) — and whether Featherington’s secret identity as the gossip columnist Lady Whistledown will be revealed.

Visiting Dublin last week, the 37-year-old actress from Galway said of her love scenes: “I think it’s hard because women with my body type — women with perfect breasts — don’t get this type of roles.

“I’m a very proud member of the perfect breast community,” Coughlan added, laughing.

Bridgerton-mania hit Ireland last week as Coughlan, who is fast gaining a global following for her unconventional opinions and refusal to conform to Hollywood expectations, was on a whistlestop tour, attending a screening of the show at the Light House cinema in Smithfield, Dublin, with her co-star Newton.

It was the penultimate night of the Bridgerton world press tour, which finished in Galway last Friday evening.

At one point the crowd started chanting. While Newton looked confused, Coughlan referred to it later in a question and answer session. “When people started singing ‘Olé, Olé, Olé’, I was like, wow — I am Packie Bonner,” she said. Coughlan added that she would explain the comparison with the former Ireland goalkeeper, one of the heroes of Italia 90, later to Newton “over a pint”.

Coughlan wore a black Regency-style gown with a jewelled bodice. After she walked down the red carpet and posed for photographs, the actress said: “The Irish welcome has been something else.”

Many of the mostly female crowd were dressed in Regency-style outfits.

Annamae Muldowney, a Bridgerton fan, travelled from Stradbally, Co Laois, in the hope of getting a ticket for the screening. “I really admire Coughlan for breaking down female stereotypes in a number of ways and she’s unashamedly curvy and she speaks her mind,” she said.

The 29-year-old, who is a disability innovation designer, wore a ­floor-length pink dress with ruffles around the bust line. “I actually bought this dress ten years ago from the US when I was going to my friend’s debs, but I thought this was too old-fashioned,” she said.

“In fact, my mother kept it. She said, ‘I always thought you might wear it one day’ — and she was right.”

In Galway with co-star Luke Newton, who plays Colin Bridgerton in the Netflix series

ANDRES POVEDA/NETFLIX

Julie Muldowney, 37, a nurse from Kilkenny who lives in Sydney, had come dressed head-to-toe in a period outfit. “I’m home for my sister’s wedding and when I heard about this event, I just had to come,” she said. “I raided [my sister’s] wedding box and I’m wearing her church pew bow, the ballet shoe-style flats and a long cream taffeta skirt. My sister doesn’t know, though. She’ll kill me.”

Muldowney said Coughlan was an inspiration to Irish women. “I lived through the pandemic in Australia and everybody there was watching Bridgerton and talking about Nicola Coughlan and the fact that she was Irish,” she said.

“She’s a fabulous actress. She’s a great representative for the Irish diaspora.” Becky Burke, 25, from Kilkenny was another fan who had come in full Regency-style dress, alongside her friend Ava Russell, 23, from Meath.

“We were hoping to get tickets, but it’s enough just to see Nicola,” Burke said.

The two women had roped in their boyfriends, brothers Charlie and Cillian O’Neill from Kildare. All were dressed in Regency-style outfits made for the occasion by their mother, Gillian.

“They had no choice but to dress up and come with us,” Burke said. “We had to be part of this. Bridgerton is just amazing and so is Nicola Coughlan. She’s a superstar.”