Nicola Coughlan’s Performance Was Influenced by Fans
Lady Whistledown aka Penelope Featherington is played by actress Nicola Coughlan who rose to fame when she played Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls. When Coughlan was offered the role, she apparently turned to fan pages to understand what readers of the series expected from her character.
According to her interview with The Guardian, she spent a lot of time lurking on online book forums to see what fans had to say. That’s when she realized that people loved Penelope because she’s not this perfect girl that all boys love. She’s a total wallflower and Coughlan wanted to do that justice. Boy did she succeed and how!