Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan looks completely different in the first look of her brand-new Channel 4 series, Big Mood.

The Irish actress, 36, became a household name when she starred in Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls, and after landing a role as Penelope Featherington in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton, Nicola’s fame has rapidly grown.

Ahead of the new series of Bridgerton, which is set to focus on Nicola’s character, the first look of her new comedy series, Big Mood, has been revealed. The talented actress is set to star opposite It’s A Sin’s Lydia West, and she looks worlds away from her prim and proper Bridgerton character.

The six-part series, which is written and created by Camilla Whitehill and is set to hit screens early next year, is described as a “vivacious and rebellious portrayal of female friendship when infiltrated by the complexities of a serious mental illness”.

Nicola, who plays Maggie in the new series, looks unkempt as her hair is a mess and she has smudged makeup on her face. Nicola’s character Maggie also has a completely different fashion sense to any character she has played before, as the first images see her donning a leopard print coat, and plunge dresses.

The talented actress is best recognised for her roles on-screen – from a Catholic schoolgirl to the daughter of Lord and Lady Featherington. Nicola, who plays Clare Devlin in the side-splitting Channel 4 comedy series Derry Girls, enjoys a life that’s world’s apart from her portrayals on-screen.

The character is very different to her role of Penelope Featherington ( 
Image:
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX)
She started as an aspiring actress trying to make her way in Hollywood and on the brink of her finances as she struggled to make ends meet. However, things have drastically changed now as Nicola’s career has really taken off and now she has amassed an incredible fortune of approximately £1.6m, according to AgeNetWorth.

Although the talented actress has amassed a huge level of fame by becoming a household name – it comes with its side effects. The actress recently explained that people stare at her wherever she goes now that she stars in the Netflix hit – which quickly became the streaming platform’s biggest show ever with 80 million people tuning in.

Nicola previously joked that being famous makes her feel like ‘a dog on the Tube’. Last year, she told Elle UK: “Being famous is like being a dog on the Tube. It’s exactly the same energy. When you get on, everyone looks at you. Some people are so smiley, while some are afraid of you and don’t want to go near. Some people touch you without asking.

“I can still do the things I want to do, obviously, but it is different. I went to the pub with my friend a while back and it was like being an animal at the zoo. People just watching and looking.”