While Nicola Coughlan has naturally blonde hair, for her role as Penelope she has become renowned for her copper locks – but fans cannot get over how she achieves it

Anyone who has been watching Bridgerton could argue that Penelope’s copper, long locks are the diamond of the season.

Aside from the captivating love stories and Regency Era scandals that have hooked Netflix fans onto Bridgerton, the outfits, hairstyles, and accessories have left us in chokehold. Queen Charlotte’s wigs have been a hot topic on social media, and Nicola Coughlan is a prime example of an actress who can rock any hairstyle.

In the first two seasons of Bridgerton, when we were met with a much shyer Penelope who needed to come into her home, Nicola boasted super curly and a classic red head hair colour. But, as we see the book loving character and secret Whistledown writer come into her own, she wows on screen with more modern, long, copper hair style.

But fans have been gobsmacked to learn how the 37-year-old Irish actress, also well known for her role in Derry Girls, actually achieved the look. TV hair and makeup artist Jessie shared how she and hairstylist Farida turn Nicola into her character.

The makeup expert, who also worked on Simon Ashley’s look for her role as Kate Sharma in the series, shared a time-lapse video of Nicola’s transformation on her TikTok page @jessie_hmua. In the clip, Nicola can be seen turning up in a cream dressing gown and sitting in the make-up chair. She reads her script as work begins on perfecting her wig and then make-up is applied to achieve her ‘soiree’ look for the show.

But one thing that fans cannot get over is that Nicola wears a wig for the role. Fans pointed out that they believed Penelope’s copper logs were Coughlan’s real hair, but the actress was actually able to keep her natural blonde locks while filming.

One individual commented and said: “I never thought it was a wig.” One other wrote: “Not me thinking this was her real hair. They did a good job.” “The wigs are sooo good for this show,” added another.

Another commented: “I’m shook! All this time I thought that was her natural hair.” “I seriously never thought Nicola had a wig on,” said another.

One other pointed out: “Their wig/hair staff budget must be HIGH because it looks so real on you!”