After a pain-painstakingly long four weeks the final four episodes of Bridgerton series three have finally been released, with a slew of new steamy moments.

Now that Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) have finally declared their love, there was no holding the young lovebirds back as they threw themselves into passionate sex scenes.

While other castmembers also took the opportunity to get hot and heavy, with racy threesomes and saucy romps aplenty.

Speaking to MailOnline at the premiere of part two on Wednesday night, several of the stars opened up on how they prepared to film intimate scenes.

Golda Rosheuvel, who plays Queen Charlotte, joined fans in praising Nicola’s ’empowering’ sex scene, which saw her strip completely nude.

She said: ‘I think I would be celebrating who I am as a human being. The way I look as a human being. The representation that Nicola has given us is something to be celebrated.’

Lady Tilley Arnold’s actress Hannah New had one of the season’s most saucy scenes with both Benedict Bridgerton and Mr Suarez.

She quipped that one of things she does to prepare was take breathmints, while adding that she also delved into her character’s motivations.

Hannah said: ‘There’s literally a whole box of minty things if you need them. That’s the wonderful thing about having an intimacy coordinator now, is you’re like “please give me another mint!”‘

She added: ‘No but I think preparing for them is really about what do you want your character to say in this scene?

‘What do you want audiences to see of this character, what part of this character can you crack apart in this scene and show in no other scene?

‘Because when you’re doing a dialogue scene there’s always like this little facade of projecting who you want to be. But in an intimacy there’s no projection, it’s just pure connection.

‘So how do you do that and how do you do that in a way that’s sexy, titillating, fun, joyful. And I think that’s what the show does really well, because it makes all of those scenes really fun.’

‘And it makes you realise it’s not just about feeling hot and sexy and steamy, it’s about enjoying yourself and finding that pleasure and finding that joy.

‘I hope it speaks to audiences in that way too. And female pleasure is really important and i think that’s what the show really puts forth.’

Meanwhile, Sam Phillips (Lord Debling) said it was important to get to know your acting partner.

He said: ‘I think brushing your teeth is good. And also being nice to the person you’re about to do something with because sometimes you’ll need to do that with strangers and you’re like “hi, we’re about to do a sex scene!” and it can be very awkward.

‘So maybe just having a five minute chat just before you go do a sex scene. Sometimes they’re just embarrassing, but you get through it if you have the right people around you.’

Daniel Francis (Lord Marcus Anderson) agreed, saying: ‘For me it’s about being in the world of that character and being as true as possible for where they are.

‘You always have to respect your fellow actor – that’s one of the most important things, so everyone is comfortable.’

It comes after Nicola revealed a behind the scenes secret from season three of the hit show and her and Colin’s first, very explicit, sex scene.

She shared an Instagram post on Thursday, thanking fans for watching and revealing a hilarious detail about the six minute scene.

She shared a snap of the chaise lounge where the pair filmed before revealing that she and Luke managed to break the piece of furniture with their antics.

‘Part Two is out now, we put our heart and souls into it, hope you love watching it as much as we loved filming it ❤️ #PolinForever,’ she captioned the photos.

The behind the scenes Insta snaps showed Nicola and Luke giving the camera a thumbs up as they posed with the damaged chaise lounge.

The hilarious post was met with an outpouring of comments from fans of ‘Polin’ – the couple name given to Penelope and Colin.

Nicola’s close friend, Queer Eye star Jonathan van Ness commented with laughing face emojis while another fan quipped: ‘We can all say that scene broke us’.

Nicola previously revealed: ‘I think we’ve won the sauciness for this series!’ as she teased that she and Luke had damaged the set with their onscreen romps, telling Entertainment Weekly:

‘We did break a piece of furniture while doing one scene. 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 and we had a lot of say in how we did those scenes and what we wanted to do. That makes you feel quite empowered.

‘So we felt super. They were actually really enjoyable. I didn’t think they would be. It was fun.’