Nicola Coughlan said the scene took two days to film. (Netflix)
Dearest gentle reader, the latest season of Bridgerton has given viewers a flavour of the delicious “love matches” to come. And Nicola Coughlan said Penelope and Colin’s upcoming scene is “so extensive” that the set broke.
Warning: Season three Bridgerton spoilers ahead.
Season three of the Netflix period drama is based on Julia Quinn‘s novel Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, with the new series discussing Penelope’s fallout with her former best friend, Eloise Bridgerton, and featuring out gay actor James Phoon.
This series finally sees Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton’s (Luke Newton) relationship taking centre stage, after years of Penelope’s unrequited affections towards the son of the Viscount.
One of their highly anticipated sex scenes – which the Derry Girls star explained helped her to reclaim the narrative around her body – is so vigorous, that the set broke.
In an interview with Mamamia, the 37-year-old said: “We had one scene that was so extensive it took two days to film and it’s a very famous scene from the books.”
She continued: “We were on a closed set, so there were only about four other people in the room with us and there was a camera right above us. And just as we heard ‘action’ called, a piece of furniture just collapsed between us and it snapped almost completely in half.”
“I’ve got a picture of it that I’ll share when the scene airs.” We’ll have to keep an eye out on her Instagram for the hilarious receipts.
In another interview with The Los Angeles Times, Coughlan explained that she had her doubts about wearing a strapless thong during filming.
“I went to the bathroom and looked in the full-length mirror. I was like, ‘Absolutely not,’” she said. “I hid it down the bottom of the laundry basket. I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’”
But in the end, she grew comfortable in her nudity on set. “By the end of the day, we were both lying under a blanket, not clothed, just chillin’. We were like, ‘This is why nudists do it.’”
The first half of Bridgerton season three is streaming now on Netflix. Part two arrives on the streaming site on 13 June.