Why was Nicola Coughlan missing from first day of filming Derry Girls series 3?

Filming for the third and final series of Derry Girls started today, but the show's biggest star Nicola Coughlan - aka Clare Devlin - is missing.

The 34 year old, Galway native is currently filming the lavish second series of Netflix's biggest original series Bridgerton in London.

A fan tweeted the star asking for a start date for filming the hit comedy show.

To which Nicola replied: "So Derry Girls will start filming anything I’m not in first while I finish Bridgerton, the moment I wrap I’ll take off the corset and get back into the green uniform."

Before filming began, the show's creator and writer Lisa McGee released a statement about the upcoming series. We were shook!

It read: 'It was always the plan to say goodbye after three series. Derry Girls is a coming of age story; following five ridiculous teenagers as they slowly...very slowly...start to become adults, while around them the place they call home starts to change too and Northern Ireland enters a new more hopeful phase - which was a small, magical window of time.

'Derry Girls is a love letter to the place I come from and the people who shaped me. It has been an honour to write it and I will be forever proud of everything it's achieved.'

Saoirse Monica-Jackson - aka Erin Quinn - shared a behind the scenes snap of her dad (Tommy Tiernan) and grandpa (Ian McElhinney).

Her funny caption reads: "Ladies & Gentlemen, I present to you Ireland’s Eurovision Entry 22"

As one door closes, another opens! Nicola landed the role of a lifetime in Bridgerton, as the undercover columnist Lady Whistledown.

Bridgerton was watched by a whopping 82 million households in the first month alone. As season two is underway, a third and fourth have already been confirmed.

Check out which other TV shows we can't wait for the return of:

Read more:

Derry Girls set to end after third season

The best TV crime dramas to binge watch right now

Sex Education is OFFICIALLY returning for a fourth season

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• derry girls
• Channel 4
• comedy show
• nicola coughlan
• saoirse-monica jackson
• lisa mcgee