Bridgerton and Derry Girls star on Dublin red carpet

There is no chance of a Derry Girls reunion any time soon, Nicola Coughlan has said.

She said the hit show was a “three and done perfect package”.

The Bridgerton star was speaking to BBC News NI as she attended the Dublin premiere of the eagerly awaited second half of the period drama’s third season.

The Galway-born actress, who plays Penelope Featherington in the Netflix series, was greeted by excited, Regency-era dressed fans at The Lighthouse Cinema on Thursday evening.

Speaking on the red carpet, Coughlan said Derry Girls had been “amazing and I think it was a real three and done and it was wrapped up in a perfect package

“I wouldn’t want to go back because I wouldn’t want to taint it,” she said.

Her co-star, Luke Newton from Brighton, arrived to the event wearing Irish designer Simone Roche.

The pair are set to travel to Coughlan’s home county of Galway on Friday for a screening in the Pálás Cinema.

It is the first red carpet event anywhere in either the UK or Ireland to promote the third season of the period drama.

The show, produced by Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, is adapted from a series of historical romance novels by author Julia Quinn.

It follows members of the influential Bridgerton family as they navigate London’s high society in the 1800s.

But, it’s earned the description of “Regency-era Gossip Girl” due to the musings of the mysterious newsletter author Lady Whistledown, detailing the ton’s (upper class society) marriage mart and scandal.

The first season – focusing on the family’s eldest daughter Daphne as she makes her debut in society – broke Netflix’s streaming records when it dropped in December 2020.

To this day, it is the streaming giant’s fourth most watched show, with 113 million households racking up 929 million viewing hours over first season’s eight episodes.

The third season is based on Quinn’s novel ‘Romancing Mr Bridgerton’, and centres on the blossoming romance between Lady Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.

Audiences are still enthralled by the seductive, scandal-filled drama, with the first four episodes of season three clocking 82 million views since its release on 16 May, according to Netflix.

It was also the number one most watched show in 78 countries and reached the top 10 in 92 during its first week.

The second half of the season will be released on Netflix worldwide on 13 June.

Born in Galway in the Republic of Ireland, the now 37-year-old made her breakthrough on screen playing “the wee lesbian” Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 series Derry Girls.

The award-winning sitcom created by Lisa McGee follows a group of teenagers Erin, Michelle, Clare, Orla and James, as they grow up in the city against the backdrop of the Northern Ireland Troubles in the 1990s.

It was first broadcast in 2018 and ran for three seasons before finishing in 2022.

She was later cast in 2019 as wallflower Penelope Featherington, the youngest daughter of a newly-rich family during London’s Regency era in Bridgerton.

She’s also fronted Channel 4 dark comedy Big Mood, taking on the role of struggling playwright Maddie.

But it isn’t just the small screen Coughlan has dominated.

In between her busy filming schedule, she managed to squeeze in a stint as Diplomat Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 blockbuster flick Barbie.

More recently, she lent her talents to historical comedy Seize Them! featuring Hot Fuzz’s Nick Frost and Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood.