Nicola Coughlan Compares Bridgerton Kiss Scenes To Love Island

Nicola Coughlan didn’t want her Bridgerton makeout scenes to resemble Love Island. On June 20, the actor stopped by the Heart radio show with co-star Luke Newton. During the interview, Coughlan revealed that their onscreen kisses reminded her of the hit reality show.

“I always compare it to Love Island kisses, [which] can look disgusting,” she said. “I’m sure it feels great but it doesn’t look nice on camera, so we [had] to figure out how to make them pretty.”

Newton then joked that Love Island contestants “needed our lessons” before getting intimate on camera. Coughlan added, “We’ll go into the villa and be like, ‘Guys, here you go.’”

On Bridgerton, Coughlan and Newton portray Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, respectively, whose romance was central to Season 3. Speaking on Heart radio, Coughlan revealed that she found kissing her co-star more daunting than the sex scenes. “I was almost more nervous for the first kiss [than the intimate scenes],” she said. “It was terrifying.”

She added that being able to practice their first kiss beforehand took “the pressure off,” and added that she and Newton had an “intimacy coordinator” on hand in her trailer.

“It felt like being a teenager at school,” she said. ‘‘We’re gonna arrange how to kiss for the camera. Like, what if it’s weird, [or] what if our faces don’t go together proper?”

Newton, for his part, was more nervous about filming intimate scenes, such as a the Season 3 carriage scene. “In preparation for those days, the most awkward moment is when my makeup artist comes into my trailer to tan my full body and I’m just wearing a cup,” he said. “That’s sort of the moment where your relationship with your makeup artist changes and you become best friends.”