Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton formed a close friendship while bringing Penelope and Colin’s love story to life on Bridgerton.
The Netflix series, which debuted in December 2020, is based on author Julia Quinn’s book series about a group of siblings’ journey to find love. Coughlan and Newton were in a unique situation since their characters appear on the show for several years before being promoted to leads.
Working closely on the first two seasons of Bridgerton allowed Coughlan and Newton to build a close connection as they eased fans into Penelope and Colin’s friends-to-lovers story line. Despite being the self-proclaimed captain of the “Polin” relationship, however, Coughlan admitted ahead of season 3 how “terrifying” it felt filming the romantic scenes with Newton.
“Luke and I read the books at the beginning of season 1, and it was funny to us. We were like, ‘Imagine if we have to kiss and do this,’” she recalled to Entertainment Tonight in June 2023. “And then season 3 came on and we were like, ‘Oh god.’ And then it’s like, it’s my friend. I have to kiss my friend. And you can’t pretend to kiss someone, you have to really kiss them. It’s a spicy one. It’s a lot of the stuff from the books that the fans expect has made it into the show.”
Keep scrolling to see the sweetest moments from Coughlan and Newton’s friendship: