Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan will take the lead in the upcoming series of steamy fan favourite show Bridgerton but confesses she felt more comfortable on the sidelines than at centre stage

Bridgerton fan ­favourite Nicola Coughlan is pinching herself “in disbelief” that she’s about to become the leading lady in a ­romantic drama.

The Derry Girls star will take centre stage in the upcoming third series of the Netflix drama as her character Penelope Featherington finally embarks on a love story with the youngest Bridgerton brother Colin, played by Luke Newton.

And Nicola admits she is “terrified” of the scrutiny because she prefers playing “the oddball in the corner”.

The actress, 37, declared: “I’m in disbelief that I’m the leading lady in a romance show. And it’s not because I find myself hideous, as some people have assumed when I say that (I’ll have you know, in the right lighting I’m a solid seven), but because it’s not something I ever dreamed of.”

Nicola confesses to feeling far more comfortable on the sidelines, ­having grown up with ambitions of becoming a “gay icon” rather than a leading lady, “purely because they never seemed to get the best lines or looked as if they were having the most fun”.

“In the first two seasons, Pen was a supporting character, the oddball in the corner, but this time she’s very much centre-stage,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.

“The only issue with this is that ‘oddball in the corner’ is actually a niche I do very well. I’m comfortable there! Strange girl no one pays attention to? Where do I sign up?”

She says that as an actress she grapples with the very same nerves and confidence issues that her character, who viewers know is secretly gossip writer Lady ­Whistledown, faces in the storyline.

“A huge theme in this series of Bridgerton is the idea that Penelope is stepping out of the shadows and into the light,” she explains. “Not only was this a journey that Pen had to embark on, it’s also one I had to go on myself. I was presented with these brilliant opportunities but was racked with doubt as to whether I could take on the challenge.”

Nicola grew up in Oranmore, County Galway, and decided to become an actor aged five, having watched her older sister performing in a school play.

After university, also in Galway, she moved to England to study at the Oxford School of Drama and Birmingham School of Acting, but suffering financial ­struggles, she moved back to Ireland and took a part-time job in an optician in Galway.

Her breakthrough came when she won the lead role in Jess and Joe Forever, at the Old Vic in London, in 2016.

Around the same time as she filmed her leading lady scenes in a global drama, Nicola signed up for Channel 4 ’s Big Mood, in which she plays Maggie, who has bipolar disorder, alongside Lydia West as best pal Eddie. The projects led to an extremely busy summer when filming overlapped by a month. And she also bagged a role in the mega-hit movie Barbie.

The actress laughs that her life has changed out of all recognition since 2017.

“I was working part time in an optician’s, about to turn 30, living at home with my parents, unsure whether the whole ‘acting thing’ was ever going to happen or whether I was completely kidding myself,” she recalls.

“Now, in 2024, I’m about to begin a global press tour for one of Netflix’s biggest ever shows. It’s hard for me to comprehend it. The funny thing is, I don’t feel any different to the girl who used to ring people up and tell them they’re overdue for their eye test.”

Having found huge fame as anxious but hilarious Clare Devlin in Channel 4’s Derry Girls from 2018, she says she is very good at separating her personal and professional life, admitting it’s necessary in order for her “to hold on to my sanity”. She says: “I don’t want to share too much of what’s private and personal.

“I try my hardest to be authentic; I’m always as truthful as I can be when I’m interviewed but, at the same time, do I want to let the world inside my home? No, I absolutely don’t.”

When it comes to going on social media, the actress says she treads carefully. “It’s deeply frustrating when people put words in your mouth and imply you mean things you don’t,” she says. “Social media has made the world a dangerously binary place, the ‘If you support X, you hate Y’ narrative isn’t ­something I’m interested in.”

And being trolled is no fun at all. “I have so much love and respect for the fans of things I’ve done – I want them to know that I feel grateful – but it is difficult to navigate being online when people throw their opinions of you at you like grenades.”

While she now accepts she’s an international star, having been recognised while visiting other countries, Nicola says she doesn’t take any of it for granted.

“Mainly, what I love is being on set,” Nicola says. “I waited too long to do this job for even a moment of the privilege of doing it to be lost on me.”

She is well aware that, when the third series of Bridgerton begins on Netflix next month, everyone will be looking at her.

“I’m terrified of the scrutiny, the opinions, the number of eyes on me,” she admits. “But, ultimately, the thing that’s making me step out of the shadows, even though it terrifies me, is that I’m so proud of the work I’ve done, the people I’ve worked with and these beautiful shows we’ve made.

“I hope I can show the world, along with myself, that sometimes the oddball in the corner can take centre-stage.”