Nicola Coughlan will have a reduced role in the final series of Derry Girls - and she's "devastated" about it.
The Bridgerton star plays much-loved character Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 show, which will air its final series later this year, but she has confessed she won't be in it as much this time around.
Nicola is also known around the world for her role as Penelope Featherington in the hit Netflix show, which recently premiered its second series, but filming commitments for the popular period drama series meant it was hard for her to return to Derry Girls in the same way as before.
Speaking to press recently, she said: "Last year was really difficult. I won't lie because, you know, at the best of times trying to manage different projects, it's such a push and pull. We were meant to film Derry Girls in January 2021.
"And I was totally free and they decided to push it again. And that caused me insane stress because I was on what in the industry is called first call. So it means you have to go and do the show that you're on first call to, which was Bridgerton. And I was like 'Guys, can we just film it?'"
Because she was on first call for Bridgerton, it meant she had to sacrifice a lot of filming time for Derry Girls.
"And they were like, 'No, we're gonna wait.' And I was like, 'oh', so we had to make compromises happen in the script of Derry Girls. It was devastating to me because I wanted to be in all of this," she added.
"But compromises had to be made. And you know, they had to cut down my role somewhat, which was hard. Really, really hard. But I think, you know, the fans of the show are going to be happy."
However, she did promise that the final series of the show would be a "really nice sign-off" for the fans.
It comes after Nicola admitted she was in debt and "struggled to make ends meet" before she bagged her role in the Channel 4 drama, adding: "The fear of having nothing is still there. I was in debt with student loans, I was working minimum wage and the rent was so high. I only got Derry Girls five years ago so it's not that long since I've been able to go and buy a coffee and not have a panic attack.
"You know what it's like not to have all those things and you know how hard you've worked to get there."
