ridgerton’s Lady Whistledown Spills the Tea on Intimacy and Nudity
When you’re part of one of Netflix’s biggest hits that centers around the romantic entanglements of high society Regency-era London, a few things are inevitable – gorgeous period costumes, scandalous gossip, and yes, some rather steamy love scenes. For Nicola Coughlan, who plays the delightfully snarky Penelope Featherington/Lady Whistledown on the hugely popular Bridgerton series, those intimate moments are all part of keeping it real on the provocative show.
In a refreshingly candid interview, the Irish actress got real about filming the show’s sexier sequences and her thoughts on nudity. Her perspective offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how one of television’s buzziest shows handles intimacy with equal parts boldness and care.
Crafting the Chemistry Behind the Closed Doors
While Bridgerton doesn’t shy away from depicting the romantic dalliances of its characters, Coughlan is quick to emphasize that any raunchy moments are meticulously constructed with input from an incredible intimacy team. “There’s nothing actually that raunchy,” she clarifies. “The intimacy team is just wonderful – they make you feel so safe.”
That collaborative process is key, she explains, to ensuring the acclaimed period drama strikes just the right balance of risque romance and good taste. “They’re there to facilitate a professional environment and to make sure everyone feels comfortable,” says Coughlan. “At the end of the day, we’re telling these gorgeous Regency stories but bringing a modern sensibility, which I think is really important.”
It’s that deft handling of intimacy that allows Bridgerton’s sultrier scenes to sizzle with authentic heat while staying solidly in line with the series’ empowering romantic vision. “All of the sex scenes are very empowering for the women involved,” Coughlan notes. “There’s a real female gaze that runs through those scenes which I love.”
And while Lady Whistledown herself may merely be an insightful observer to the show’s central love stories, Coughlan still has a perfect vantage point for studying how the show’s approach to intimacy elevates its tales of courtship and desire. “The women always have agency and are never objectified,” she says. “It’s really beautifully done.”
Keeping It Classy with Choreographed Steaminess
Of course, filming those tantalizing trysts isn’t always quite as steamy as the end result might suggest. Coughlan is the first to cheekily admit that choreographing Bridgerton’s more passionate interludes has its awkward – and sometimes unintentionally hilarious – moments.
“There’s this really raunchy opera scene,” she shares, referring to a particularly racy sequence featuring the show’s leads in the bedroom. “We filmed a part of it on our very first day, so it was just so bizzare and straight out of the gate!” She laughs at the sheer unexpectedness of that amorous introduction. “We were all just in this room with the intimacy coordinators being like, ‘Okay, so you’re going to have to go here…and do that…'”
It’s those sorts of surreal, borderline silly scenarios that keep the Derry Girls alum grounded amid the series’ more erotic exploits. “The way it’s filmed, it’s stunning and gorgeous,” Coughlan concedes of Bridgerton’s lovemaking vignettes. “But on the day, it’s just a bunch of your mates going, ‘Yup, that was the buttoxit!'” She chuckles at the crass technical terms that inevitably get thrown around.
But for as lighthearted as the filming process can be at times, she’s unequivocal about the respectful working environment showrunners strive to create when executing intimate content. “There’s just no messing,” Coughlan states frankly. “It’s a completely closed set, there’s an intimacy supervisor, and it’s all very carefully choreographed.”
The “No Nudity” Difference
Another aspect that sets Bridgerton apart from many other prestige period pieces? Its distinct lack of outright nudity. While the show certainly doesn’t shy away from suggestive scenarios, Coughlan notes there’s an intentional avoidance of gratuitous exposures.
“In Bridgerton, there’s actually no nudity,” she points out. “Which is great – you don’t need it to tell these gorgeous, sumptuous, empowering stories about women owning their sexuality.” She doubles down on her stance that the show’s racier sequences are far more impactful for their restrained nuances than any brazenly explicit content. “It’s all mainly suggestive. It lets the audience use their imagination rather than showing everything.”
That thoughtful commitment to leaving something to the imagination seems to be a key part of what makes Bridgerton’s approach to intimacy so alluring…and so unabashedly feminine. As Coughlan sees it, the show’s sensual subtleties are part of a broader mission to subvert traditionally male-centric perspectives when it comes to exploring desire on screen.
“These intimate scenes really highlight the idea of the female gaze,” she explains. “We get to see these male leads being objectified in quite a delicious way.” She relishes how Bridgerton’s passionate vignettes empower their female viewers as much as the female characters themselves. “As the audience, we get to sit back and go, ‘Oh, I see why people enjoy objectifying people now!'”
Of course, Coughlan is all too aware of the potential contradictions and nuances inherent to any discussion about sex and nudity in popular entertainment. She’s refreshingly unvarnished about her own reconciliation between her personal ideals, her profession, and the particular persona of the quick-witted, frequently under-dressed Lady Whistledown.
“It’s an odd one because I’m kind of body-conscious myself,” she admits with her trademark candor. “But playing someone who does wear relatively racy outfits, you get into a different headspace. I mean, if I was walking down the street dressed like Penelope Featherington, I’d be mortified!”
Ultimately though, Coughlan sees the progressively sex-positive overtones of shows like Bridgerton as a sign of society’s evolving openness when it comes to intimacy and female empowerment. “I suppose it’s a reflection of where we’re at now culturally, isn’t it?” she muses. “There’s progress being made in terms of telling stories from different perspectives and letting women be the ones in charge of their own sexuality and their gaze.”
Setting a New Standard for Feminist Philandering
In the end, the Bridgerton star seems to view her show’s singular approach to sex and nudity as emblematic of an exciting, more inclusive moment in depicting relationships and desire through a decidedly feminist lens. Far from the regressive Regency tropes of patriarchal power dynamics and damsels in discourtesy, she sees Bridgerton as a revolutionary romance that’s raising the bar for how modern love stories can smash outdated mores.
“It’s pretty radical in its own way,” Coughlan declares. “These sex scenes are some of the most outrageous things people have ever seen on TV – and they’re being told from the perspective of women!” She beams with pride over the literary world of carefully calibrated courtship and consent that she and her co-stars have brought to life with such vibrant authenticity.
And while the infamously incorrigible Lady Whistledown may never personally dip more than her quill into Bridgerton’s central amours, the actress behind the sly narrator sees her scandalous alter ego as the ultimate emblem of intimacy reclaimed and revealed through a powerfully progressive prism.
“I mean, here’s this woman who’s sort of anonymously in charge of who gets to tell their story and what gets told,” Coughlan says of her proto-feminist truth-telling character. She revels in how Penelope’s incognito inclinations paradoxically make her a “truth-teller” whose voyeuristic revelations somehow render Bridgerton’s entire romantic universe more authentic and self-actualized.
“There’s a real sense of radical honesty to what she does – and a real sense of women being in the driving seat of their own sexuality and desirability,” she marvels. By subversively stripping away the polite pretenses of male-dominated social scripts, Lady Whistledown ironically exposes a deeper truth about what feminine intimacy can look like when unfettered by patriarchal constraints.
From that deliciously meta perspective, Penelope Featherington and her delightfully unbound alter ego
From that deliciously meta perspective, Penelope Featherington and her delightfully unbound alter ego may just be the among most radically empowered characters on television – simultaneously embodying the thrill of anonymously spilling society’s juiciest secrets while pulling back the curtain on the equally subversive notion of women writing their own daring narratives of love, lust, and personal sovereignty.
That sort of multifaceted, nuanced representation of female sexuality and relationships is precisely what Coughlan celebrates as Bridgerton’s signature contribution to the modern romance canon. “What I love about the show is that we really get to see both the female and male perspectives,” she reflects. “There are all of these different stories being told through the lens of desire, sexuality, and what people want.”
Ultimately, it’s that spirit of equitable erotic empowerment that Coughlan hopes Bridgerton’s boundary-pushing intimacy will inspire across its legions of fans. “I hope stories like this make people feel more comfortable in their own skin and in touch with their own sexuality – whatever that means for them,” she says. “There are so many underrepresented people who finally get to see themselves and see their experiences.”
Forging Ahead with Feminist-Forward Passion Plays
As for what other envelopes she’d like to see her culture-shifting series push when it comes to depicting intimacy and relationships in future seasons? Coughlan has no shortage of body-positive, gender-inclusive ideals she’d love to see Bridgerton continue normalizing and celebrating amidst its swirl of sinewy, romantic delights.
“I’d love to see the show explore different sexualities and perspectives,” she begins. “There’s been a lot of talk about whether we might see a queer love story in future seasons, which I think would be brilliant.” She’s palpably excited by the prospect of the show’s courtesan chronicles expanding to depict the full spectrum of human desire and love in all its messy, marvelous realities.
She’s also hopeful Bridgerton can keep finding compelling ways to dismantle reductive assumptions about race, age, body types, and conventional attractiveness through its powerful romanticism. “I’d love to see more conversations opened up about different body shapes and sizes,” Coughlan shares. “We’ve seen some of that already with the way characters like mine dress in a very period-accurate way – but I’d really relish an even more modern and open attitude toward physical diversity being celebrated as beautiful.”
With that sort of holistic, inclusive vision for reframing intimacy through an empowered, equitable lens, it’s no wonder the beloved star can’t help but feel a profound sense of pride over the cultural impact Bridgerton seems to be sparking. “I really do hope the show makes people feel more confident and comfortable in themselves,” she reiterates. “That’d be the biggest compliment of all.”
For now though, Coughlan and her daring cohorts will have to settle for delighting audiences by simply continuing to bring the show’s scintillating love stories and tantalizing trysts to life with their signature blend of high-brow sophistication and low-brow delight. She’s the first to admit that even with Bridgerton’s lofty ambitions to revolutionize the depiction of relationships and sexuality, at its core it’s still aiming to dish out a deliciously soapy good time above all.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a brilliant bonkers romp, isn’t it?” Coughlan chuckles, clearly reveling in the show’s sublimely over-the-top romantic maximalism. “It’s Jane Austen…but absolutely scrambled through a really fun, horny lens that lets us all have a mischievous laugh.”
And few could embody the sly spirit and singular self-possession of Bridgerton’s titillating world better than Penelope Featherington herself – a young woman who contains multitudes of both properness and unrestrained passions, who deftly navigates the most deliriously indecent of scenarios with remarkably industrious decorum.
“I just love her total dichotomy,” Coughlan gushes about the character she’s singlehandedly transformed into one of television’s most singular and unforgettable figures. “This young lady on the one hand, and then basically a raunchy truth-bomb dropping machine on the other! That’s what makes her so iconic.”
It’s that duality, that seamless wielding of both scathing frankness and poised grace under fire, that makes both Penelope and Bridgerton as a whole so spellbinding. Here is a realm of intimacy and romance presented in all its uncensored glory, yet explored with a distinctly feminist perspective and profound respect for the multitudes contained in every individual’s identity, sexuality, and desires.
By joyfully marrying raw eroticism with empowered agency and radical inclusivity of perspective, Bridgerton is well on its way to solidifying its status as nothing less than a cultural epoch in the evolution of how we portray and embrace intimacy in all its messy, subversive, stunningly human forms. And as the inimitable Lady Whistledown would surely declare with a roguish grin and unerringly graceful plume, that literary revolution is proving to be quite the delicious scandal indeed.