Nicola Coughlan shows off Dublin accent on new series of Bridgerton

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan gets to showcase her Irish accent in the new season of the Regency drama which has become a global phenomenon.

While she speaks in a posh English accent in her role as Penelope Featherington, she is filmed using a Dublin accent when she poses as an Irish maid working for her alter ego, Lady Whistledown, in season two.

The Galway star is famous for her pitch-perfect Derry accent in Derry Girls but she broadens her range in this season's series of Bridgerton when she alternates between a cut-glass English accent and a Dublin brogue.

The Derry Girls star revealed she originally stumbled upon the information Penelope Featherington was the show’s secret gossip writer, who is one of the key characters in the show.

She said: “I found out that Penelope was Lady Whistledown in an unexpected and strange way.

“I was on an online fan forum, because I just wanted to absorb as much information about Penelope as quickly as possible once I got the role. And I was in such shock, I couldn’t believe it.”

The Galway actress has been blown away by the millions around the world who watched Shondaland drama including superstar fans like Kim Kardashian in the height of the pandemic.

“We saw the numbers, and there’s no way that a human brain can compute that”, she said.

“Every famous person was watching it, people were referencing it, and you go, 'Oh, okay, not just my family and friends have watched this'."

But the star, who first shot to fame in Derry Girls, has revealed that the ball scenes are as magnificent as ever in the second season of the period drama.

She said: “The ball scenes are truly epic, and there’s an epic amount of work that goes into making them.

“It takes way longer than people think, because you’re getting hundreds of people ready and there are weeks of planning that go into the wigs alone.”

She revealed it can be quite physically challenging wearing some of the ornate costumes for the dance scenes.

She said: “One dress I wore this season was individually beaded, and it weighed a ton. I had to run up the stairs in one scene and they were like, ‘Can you go a bit quicker?’, and I was like, ‘Physically, no, I cannot’.

“The choreography is amazing. Sean Jack Murphy, our choreographer, is the world’s nicest man, and he uses a lot of modern music.

“So we dance to modern music in the session, and then they put their Regency twist on it.

“Jack approaches the dance very much as another part of storytelling. I didn’t think I was going to get a dance this year so when I got a dance, I was very thrilled, as was my mum.

“She kept asking every time she’d ring me on a lunch break, “Did you dance at the ball?” And when I eventually did, she was really happy.”

She revealed her character’s love life is as “complicated and one-sided” as ever.

“Her relationship with Colin Bridgerton has progressed from Season One because they’ve become pen pals while Colin’s been travelling.

“Her feelings for Colin are obviously up here, and his are sort of down there, and they’re not quite meeting in the middle. “

She expects audiences are going to be glued to the second season which focuses on Viscount Anthony Bridgeton’s love story with his romantic interest, Kate Sharma.

“It feels much more intensely dramatic this time; lots of secrets to be revealed.”

Bridgerton is available on Netflix.