“In terms of the pressures on the debutantes in 'Bridgerton,' I feel like we're still going through a lot of the same challenges, just in a different guise. These girls had to dress up and present themselves to Queen Charlotte to be scrutinised. Today, you do that for social media rather than for royalty.”

Irish actress

Nicola Coughlan is an Irish actress, best known for playing Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls and Penelope Featherington in Netflix’s Bridgerton. Her screen work has made her a familiar presence in contemporary television. She became widely known through Derry Girls, which ran from 2018 to 2022, and has continued to appear in Bridgerton since 2020. For that role, she received a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for the third series. She also earned a British Academy Television Award nomination for playing Maggie Donovan in Big Mood, which began in 2024.