Gossip girl’s glow-up
As Penelope and Colin take centre stage for series three of Net ix hit Bridgerton, Rachael Davis catches up with Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton and their cast mates
AS GOSSIP goes, it doesn’t come much juicier than that divulged in the missives of Bridgerton’s elusive Lady Whistledown. She has spun rumours of lurid love a airs and societal scandals aplenty, but as Bridgerton returns to Net ix for a third series, our writer might just be nding herself the talk of the town.
With one last shot at nding a husband, and many already condemning her a spinster, Penelope Featherington – outed as the secret scribe last season – has a bit of a Cinderella moment, stepping into the year’s marriage market with a look that’s sure to turn some heads.
“It’s really fun,” smiles Nicola Coughlan, 37, who plays Penelope, of her glow-up.
“I hoped that we’d get to our season and that she was going to have this transformation, but I really loved the way they wrote it, in that she has this physical transformation, but then you realise that she’s done no inner work, so she has no con dence. She’s got no chat. It’s just an absolute disaster.
“I also love playing that side of her, how awkward she is with men...” adds the Derry Girls star. “Because she’s only had two people that she’s
nd ever really loved and wanted to be around in her life, Colin and Eloise. She’s lost both of them. So she’s a bit like: ‘What do I do now?”’
For those who might need a reminder, season two of Bridgerton saw Penelope Featherington’s identity as Lady Whistledown revealed to her best friend, Eloise Bridgerton, resulting in a ery falling-out.
But Penelope doesn’t put down her pen, and season three sees her resume her writing about all the goings-on in high society – although the burden of her identity being known seems to be weighing heavy on her shoulders.
To make matters worse, Penelope’s long-time crush Colin Bridgerton has just returned from his trip around Europe, where he’s worked his way around the countries – and women – of the continent and re-enters society with a new worldliness.
us, Penelope becomes the protagonist of season three – a season which makes her and Colin the subject of attention – heartbroken and friendless.
Like Penelope, Colin’s had something of a makeover, too.
“He comes back with this newfound con dence,
and he thinks he’s the king of charm,” says Luke Newton, 31, who plays him.
“It’s a fun place to start the season. And then also, he kind of needs someone to put him in his place and get reset.”
Before he left, Penelope overheard Colin telling other gentlemen that he would never court her, which broke her heart – and with seemingly a newfound ego packed into his travelling bags, sparking a romance seems even less likely.
Fans of the Regency romance series, based on the book series by Julia Quinn, have been getting hot under the collar about the fact that the new season will focus on the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Colin and Penelope, a pairing they have dubbed ‘Polin’.
Setting this season apart from the two that have come before is the fact that fans already know and love the two people involved in the main romantic plot, which the cast say really ramps up the excitement this time around.
“It kind of hits you like a train, the rst episode,” teases Luke, who starred in teen dramas before Bridgerton.
“I think, after how patient fans have been leading up to this point –I think it’s what they’ve wanted all this time – it’s really nice that we get to
see there’s a history between these two characters. We don’t have to set that up, we can just kind of sit in it and live that experience...
“It feels appropriate to their love story that we’ve seen their history, and we know about their friendship from the start.”
“I think the thirst is bigger, isn’t it?,” adds Claudia Jessie, 34, who plays Eloise Bridgerton and previously had roles in Line Of Duty and Porters.
“We look forward to meeting new people, and we have, obviously, in seasons one and two, and that’s been really enjoyable. But there’s something quite comforting, I think, for the fans to be thirsty for something and then be satis ed by something.”
at said, it’s not all about ‘Polin’ this season. Francesca Bridgerton, previously played by Ruby Stokes with Hannah Dodd taking on the role for season three, is making her debut in society and beginning the search for a husband.
Hannah, 28, who also appeared in Net ix’s Anatomy Of A Scandal, says that fans are “going to learn a lot about Francesca – and equally, she’s learning a lot about herself as well”.
“It’s her rst time on the season, so it’s a new environment for her, and she kind of has to step out from the shadows of her siblings and work out what it is that she wants, and whether that looks slightly di erent to how they’ve gone about it.”
Meanwhile, there’s a third
I hoped that we’d get to our season and that she was going to have this but I really loved the way they wrote it, in that she has this physical transformation, but then you realise that she’s done no inner work, so she has no con dence. She’s got no chat. It’s just an absolute disaster”
member of the Bridgerton clan dealing with complicated emotions about love – though we’re not talking in a romantic sense. Following the explosive nale of season two, Eloise and Penelope’s friendship is in tatters, and Eloise holds the secret of the true identity of Lady Whistledown like a loaded gun.
“I feel like she’s been quite courteous, considering she knows a huge secret that could be dropped at any minute,” says Claudia.
“I think that there’s a lot of love that Eloise and Penelope have for each other, irrespective of their circumstances, [that’s] still there, but the pain is equal to the level of betrayal.
nd
“For Eloise, I personally think it’s a great thing for her to be able to nd her independence and nd out who she is outside of this column that she’s leant on so heavily for years in Penelope, because I think Penelope has been quite patient with Eloise a lot of the time...”
“I think there’s a big thing on TV and in movies [that] we really celebrate romantic love, and platonic love is not held in the same reverential light,” Nicola re ects. “And it should be, really, because I think Penelope does have two loves of her life...
“But I love the way it’s written, and it’s such an important part of the story. And I know it is for Julia Quinn – she said one of her favourite love stories within all of Bridgerton, is Pen and El.”
■ Bridgerton, Net ix from ursday