Nicola Coughlan says her family got Bridgerton star Luke Newton drunk

By Laura Parkin For Mailonline

15:30 12 Jun 2024, updated 15:38 12 Jun 2024

Nicola Coughlan has revealed her family got her Bridgerton co-star Luke Newton ‘drunk off Guinness’ as she recalled their trip to Galway. 

During an appearance on ITV‘s This Morning on Wednesday, the actress, 37, and the actor, 31, discussed filming their racy scenes as Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton in the period drama’s third season. 

The pair are set to get hot and heavy in the upcoming episodes as their story pans out on screen.

And when out promoting the series in Ireland last week, Nicola made sure to take Luke to her hometown and introduce him to her mother. 

Speaking to hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, she admitted: ‘I brought him to have dinner with my family and they tried to get him drunk on pints of Guinness.’

Luke added: ‘I love Guinness but I can’t keep up with the Irish.’

‘We had a pie and some pints and he was given the true Galway experience,’ Nicola explained. 

During their trip, The Galway Fleadh hosted a screening of the series at Pálás Cinema last Friday, where Nicola’s mother was in attendance. 

After spotting her in the crowd the actress went over for a hug and introduced Luke, with one fan’s video of the sweet moment going viral online.

Recalling the moment, Nicola said: ‘So, I haven’t told you this. I saw my mum recently, at the cinema screening, I hadn’t seen her in a while so I got a bit emotional and gave her a hug. 

‘The video went a bit viral and when I showed it to her she watched the bit where Luke hugged her and went “that’s the one.” 

‘I was like “that’s the one!? but you gave birth to me.”‘

The end of part one saw the pair get hot and heavy in the back of a carriage, sending fans of the series wild. 

Giving an insight into the scene Nicola revealed: ‘It was filmed in a soundproof carriage, we were waiting for the director saying cut and couldn’t hear it so when we got to the Bridgerton house we just kept going. 

‘I just spontaneously said “we are here” and soon after the director came over and said, “what were you doing? I said stop ages ago.”‘

Luke joked: ‘It is the only episode that I do not want to my mother to watch.’

Previously, Nicola spoke to Entertainment Weekly about shooting the sex scenes, as she revealed they went as far as breaking furniture while filming. 

Contrary to some actors’ aversions to shooting sex scenes, Nicola revealed she found filming ‘enjoyable and empowering’ alongside Luke.

She said: ‘We did break a piece of furniture while doing one of those scenes. I didn’t know what it was gonna be like, but it’s a little bit like a stunt in which they’re like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna do this, this, and this’…

‘But then they gave us freedom to like, we had a lot of say in how we did those scenes and what we wanted to do…

‘And that makes you feel quite empowered and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re gonna do this, this, and this.’ So we felt super. They were actually really enjoyable. I didn’t think they would be. They were great. It was fun.’

Prior to discussing the raunchy moments, Nicola appeared on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen to discuss life as Lady Penelope.  

She hilariously gave her character’s alias Lady Whistledown a Real Housewives tagline, saying: ‘I may be behind the quill but I’m always ahead of the gossip.’ 

Bridgerton is known for its saucy scenes and Nicola has asked the producers for a ‘PG’ version so she could enjoy the show with her mother.

The second half of Bridgerton’s hotly anticipated third season is set for release on Thursday, June 13.