Nicola Coughlan Reveals She Was Totally Clueless While Filming the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special: “I had no idea what was going on”

Nicola Coughlan best known for ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Derry Girls, roles says she can’t reveal much about her role in the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special for a hilarious reason. While she hasn’t been asked to keep it a secret, she admits that she was confused by the show’s plot since she had never watched it before.

Coughlan is one of the few people who hadn’t watched ‘Doctor Who’ before agreeing to appear as a guest star. In the Christmas special titled ‘Joy To The World,’ she plays a character named Joy, who meets the 15th Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, after checking into a London hotel for a peaceful break. She ends up joining the Doctor on a mission to save Christmas everywhere at once.

The actress admitted on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ that she had no previous connection to the show. She explained that she didn’t watch it while growing up in Ireland, so she had to do some research after being cast. Even when she started working on the show, she didn’t fully understand all the details of what was happening.

I can’t tell you anything, not because of secrecy but because I had no idea what was going on. I was brought up in Ireland so didn’t see it as a child so when I got the part, I looked it up on Wikipedia – it was like reading War And Peace and it was so confusing with monsters and time travel.

Despite all of this, Coughlan enjoyed her time working on ‘Doctor Who’ and would be happy to return if asked.

It was a fun experience, and I had a lovely time. If they want me back, I would do it again.

‘Joy to the World’ will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25th, at 5:10 pm. This is a change from the last season, where episodes were available at midnight on BBC iPlayer, but now fans can watch it together at the same time.

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