“There's a real danger in writing or acting as therapy because if you've ever been on-screen with someone or on stage or worked with a writer that is trying to work through issues, it's a mess. No matter what you're trying to deal with, I think you have to be removed enough from it to deal with it because otherwise it can just be a disaster.”

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.