Nicola Coughlan savours our chipotle & lime roast chicken with smashed Jersey Royals

24:08And then you've done sort of a smashed roast Jersey Royal. They're really good. I love a little mini smash potato. What was your process? Okay, so this is a recipe by Chetna McCann. And then it's just Jersey Royals boiled until they're cooked. Drain them well. And then you mix them with olive oil, butter, fresh coriander leaves and some finely chopped chili and toss it all in together. then into a roasting tin, into a hot oven and you roast them for about 35 to 40 minutes. And there you have. So you've got roasted little coriander. There's a lot of coriander here for someone who doesn't like coriander.

24:41But I've done this for you, Nicola. Oh, bless you. Thank you, Angela. Because people who don't like coriander really hate it. Yeah, they do. It's all right. I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. I'll make the sacrifice. Oh, bless you. Thank you, Angela. And we're serving it with a number one Laval alberino if you'd like some white wine. Would you like some more champagne? Sure. I never say no. I mean, sure. Sure, why not? Sorry, thank you very much. This is really good. And if you want to try this recipe or get the ingredients or get the wine, the albarino, you can go on waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes.

25:14So go on there and you can find all the information. Everything's there. And Angela has also done a step-by-step how-to video, which you can get if you go and follow us on Instagram and YouTube. Should we talk about Big Mood? Yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk about this. a brand new series of Big Mood, Big Mood 2. If anyone's not seen Big Mood, fill us in because it's such a brilliant show and it's been so loved and received so well. And it was a huge hit, I know, the first series for Channel 4. Yeah, it was the most watched Channel 4 show since Dairy Girls. Wow! Yeah. What's the common thread?

25:52I know, I'm like, please tell that to casting directors. Please keep hiring me so I can keep paying my gas bill. Thanks so much. But yeah, it's a comedy that then morphs into a drama in some ways. Like I think my character Maggie is a playwright who has bipolar disorder. It was written by one of my best friends, Camilla Whitelaw. I've known her 17 years this year, which is crazy. I think we always wanted to work together. We met at drama school. She was training as an actor. Left was like, I hate this. And I want to cover myself in tattoos and dye my hair mad colors, which is harder to do if you're an actor.

26:24and she wrote a short play in this like small competition and it was so funny and brilliant. And I was like, oh, she's going to be a famous writer. That completely makes sense. And then, yeah, we always wanted to do something together. Yeah, it was one of those jobs where I never sort of agreed to do it. It just morphed and happened. And yeah, I just, I've loved being part of it. It's a really special show. It's, you know, my character has bipolar disorder and it's not a show about bipolar disorder, but it certainly examines it, I think, in a really interesting way because it's through the lens of comedy.

26:56So you're never making fun of it, but you see how much it complicates her life and it does sort of bring up these ridiculous situations at times. But we've had amazing feedback from the first series of people that have had bipolar work with someone that has it, married to someone with bipolar that said it was like a really true reflection, they felt, and they'd not seen it so much on TV, which was incredible feedback. But yeah, so it's a comedy that deals with very tough things, so it gets dark, definitely. Yeah, but I think it does it in such a good way. And I think, like you say, it's not the focus of the show.

27:27It's more about friendship and how you guys interact with each other. And I also love how it's about how friendships can maybe like unravel or shapeshift over the years, you know. Because it's like the person you're the most honest with. So, you know, your best friend is going to... And as you grow up with someone, you change. You all have different parts of things going on in your life. So, you know, it's reacting to that, isn't it? Yeah, and it's a funny time. I think they've just entered into their 30s and they're trying to figure one another out and trying to heal and become the best versions of ourselves and whatever Instagram tells us we need to be doing.

27:59They're trying to do that and really butting heads against one another. But it's a gorgeous cast, like Lydia West, who's just the sweetest human lover. And it's like a show that I think is, I don't know, it feels really fresh in the way it manages to be serious and heartfelt and really funny. and we're saying like just so honest it's such an honest writing isn't it it's not like ridiculous writing no it's sort of it feels very true to certain people i know and like that part of london and yeah someone said it's an extremely millennial show and i'm like it it really is when you did the first series you were doing it at the same time as shooting bridgerton yeah so you were doing bridgerton and big mood at the same time which is such a i imagine a stretch of two different parts of your brain and your abilities.

28:48How did you do that? And what was the schedule? Were you sometimes doing it day by day? We did Bridgerton. It's an eight month shoot, generally, a Bridgerton season. So it was at the end of it, we started to overlap. So I did, let's say, a full week on Bridgerton, then a full week on Big Mood, then the weekend Bridgerton. So I just felt, I didn't know my arse from my elbow, honestly, for that time. But I also, deep down, I was like, this is what you want to be doing, though. You are so lucky. You'll be tired for right now and I did sort of it's funny because I say to people oh I cried a lot and people go oh my god and I go no look crying's not bad crying is just a release of what's inside you and it's your body going I'm really tired and I want to stop it you're going no just come on just push through push through and yeah it was all worth it I'm delighted yeah I like that you had that outlook and whatever word for yourself you're like no this is this is alright I think crying's a good it's a good thing it's important to let the tears out sometimes and it's that time period you know there's a final time 100 % yeah And I'd never led a show before, let alone two.

29:46And I thought, you are so lucky right now to be doing both these jobs. And was it always what you wanted to do when you were younger? Yeah. From what age do you think you realized you wanted to act? Four or five, I would say. Wow. My sister taped The Wizard of Oz on TV and I watched it and I thought, I want to do that. I didn't know what it was, but I thought that is for me. Yeah. Because it just seemed like magic and I would rewatch it and become obsessive and just, it just was everything. thing I think it felt like real life magic which it really can feel like sometimes getting to step into another person's shoes and travel to a magical land or know what it's like to live in the past like all of that stuff I love there's a moment on set when it because I mean sets can be huge like the Bridgerton set is enormous there's hundreds and hundreds of people that work on that show but where they ring a bell in the studio and everyone goes completely quiet and we all just get into a scene and you're like there's something special to me about a bunch of grown ups agreeing that we're making this world and it does feel like something special and I'm very distractible ADHD but in that moment I think my brain just goes and I can really lock in and I just it does feel like magic I love it when I said to my mum you were coming on my mum was like oh I love her love her love her in Bridgerton and she was very excited you were coming on and I wanted to ask you to share what happens with your mum and Bridgerton.

31:09Oh. Because wasn't it part of the deal that you got a special cut? Yeah, I thought I had a deal where I was like, I don't, I want a special cut of it without any of the sexy bits. Yes. So I can watch it with my mum. Yeah, sure. And they were like, no one gets that. Yeah. You can do that. Yeah. You can do it yourself, like on, you know, Final Cut Pro, but we're not doing it for you. Come on, Netflix. But yeah, because then other people started messaging me, like, how did you get that? I'm like, I didn't, I didn't. I thought I did. I did it. Oh yeah, the nightmare for them. Like every hour to be like, can you cut this bit out?

31:40No, I get told off by my mum quite a lot. Like even when she first watched Dairy Girls and there was a lot of swearing in it, she was like, and I was like, I didn't even write it. And then the first episode of Bridgerton, I tried to get her to watch because I had the episodes before it came out. And then about two and a half minutes in is the first bare bottom, Johnny Bailey's lovely bottom. But she was like, she was like, I don't know why they're doing that. Because she thought it was Downton Abbey. And I was like, it's not quite that. Like it's kind of something. She was like, why is that happening?

32:08Why is that? But then now she's like, she loves it so much. And yeah, she gets very excited. And we just had season four. Just had season four. And there's going to be a season five. Season five, it started filming already. So I won't be in it very much, but like I'm always happy to come back. I think it's such, it's a genuinely lovely job to come back to. But like I have it so good now because I come in for a few days. I'm like, yay, how is everyone? I'm like, I'll see you in two months. Bye. Like they're working super, super hard. I'm just like coming back. It just, it's lovely. Yeah. Actually, speaking of the family and the sex scenes, we had to watch your sex scene.

32:44I had to watch your sex scene with my niece. Why? Because it was on Gogglebox. We were watching it and it was like the scene on the chaise lounge. Chaise lounge? Chaise lounge, yeah. That scene. Me and Liv. Me and Liv. I mean, my niece is 31. Yeah. But me and Liv are always like, ugh. I know, still a bit embarrassing. You still, yeah. You never want to watch it with your family. No, definitely not if you're in it. Even season short. No way. I think I avoided that because we did a second premiere and there was a screening in Galway where I'm from and my mum was there and my sister and lots of family friends.

33:21But they were watching it in a screen and I got to leave and I was like, enjoy, bye! You don't want to watch it with them. I wanted to ask you something which I really loved that you talked about in an interview you did with Harper's Bazaar and the quote is that you said that you have a face that says please come and sit beside me on public transport i just give off that energy yeah i love that quote yeah it's true does that happen now people like people come up to me like oh my god nicola what are you he used to ask me for directions all the time i actually don't have a bad sense of direction but also i looked like a child for like a really long time so i was like i don't think i would ask a child like how do i get you know to the shop but whenever actors go I'm shy you're like you're not shy you couldn't be but I do quite I think one on one and I'm like I very much have that divide of like if I'm performing you can look at it and then I step away I'm like don't look at me I'm not doing anything interesting I want to go you want your privacy definitely but that must be hard to have dealt with you know because when you think about Derry Girls the fame it must have brought you well it was funny because that was weirdly sort of manageable in a way because it was a show that people went really love it and you go oh thanks and then when Bridgerton was coming out I was like oh well I know what that's like and then that the numbers of that were unfathomable so then coming out to the world again post-covid yeah was like a lot I was like oh this is like much bigger than I sort of understood yeah and then season three which I was the lead of was like yeah a lot of stuff and you're like oh I don't want all of this actually I think if you really wanted that I'm like you'd be mad yeah like I think like and also I think that attention is better given to pop stars.

34:59I'm not being facetious in any way. Or like, and I think there's a real place for celebrities as celebrity, genuinely, because I think human beings are inherently nosy. We want to know what's going on. But I'm like, actors are the worst for that. Because you need to watch us as other people. So you don't need to know what I'm doing. None of that's interesting. Like, I think celebrities, reality TV, people that show you... That's a sort of smart way to live your life, I think. Yeah. Definitely. Sort of, you know, with those boundaries. Otherwise, you know, you feel public property. definitely but people sort of feel like they are anyway like they see a paparazzi picture of you and they go why did you do that and you're like well I didn't know it was happening so that's the first part of that but yeah it's definitely it's it's a tricky one because I think a man in the industry like a male actor is able to have a lot more mystique and go well I don't want to answer questions but as a woman you're expected to give a little bit more of yourself so it's a very tricky and also if you're like an open book person it's quite hard to be like no no don't ask me that I can't tell you if I like pickles or not I'm a mysterious I'm going to become mysterious now how do you do it because something like Derry Girls was huge like you say but then Bridgerton I think answers a different dimension because then you have like you know my mum in her 80s being like I love Nicola Cocker so you've got like basically everyone Everyone.

36:20Everyone. And I think when she knows who someone is, like, you're famous. That's big, yeah. But not like straight men. Not like dads. Because my brother-in-law is a huge football fan. So I took him to an Arsenal game and I was like completely anonymous. I was like, this is where I need to go. If I want to let you have a chill night, just, you know. The Dish team rarely miss, you know, a chance for wordplay. All right. And we're marking the return of Big Mood. Yeah. Okay. We, so food. Yeah. See what's going to happen here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to read some moods to you. You tell us the food for that mood.

36:58Okay. It's big food. Big food. Yeah, big food. Go, I love it. Season two. Okay, so we'll give you a scenario and then just tell us what sort of food that puts you in the mood for. So a night in a tent camping under the stars. Ooh. Would you do that, Nicola? I have done many years ago on the Iron Islands, which are off the coast. I don't think I'm a natural tent girly. I have a lot of respect for indoor plumbing. I think that's a really wonderful thing. So I haven't been to a festival in many years. I'm like, I need to know where the nearest bathroom is. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, what would be nice?

37:33I feel like... Barbecue-y sort of. Yeah, I love a barbecue. I don't eat pork, but like a chicken sausage in a roll and all like the burnty bits get stuck to the bread. Let's go camping. Let's do it. Let's go. Yeah. The morning after, a big night at the local pub. It's a really weird thing that used to always make my hangovers feel better were fruit pastel ice lollies. Oh. They're just sort of magic. I don't know. They're just like, it's just like pure sugar probably. Yeah, probably. It's cold and refreshing, but they're very good. But I eat them quite weird. I have to like bite them layer by layer.

38:07I do bite ice cream. That's something people really hate. So layer by layer, color by color. Okay. Okay. That's interesting. You were like, right. Right. No, I like that they're specific. I like that. It's not like fried eggs. It's a layer by layer fruit pasta lolly. Yeah. Let's do a dinner party that you're hosting around yours. Yep. Five or six friends. Okay. Plus me and Angela. Okay. Yeah. It's a Friday night. Friday night. That's the mood. What's the food? I really, yeah, I do love Mexican because I feel like it's like this. Lots of little bowls of things, bits. Everyone can make their own little version.

38:42So I like to do chicken tacos and season them up well, cook them on stainless steel, get a nice little sear on them. And then I deglaze the pan with some orange juice and then pour it on top in a little lime and nice and fresh. And then I remember one time, this is so tragic, cooking chicken tacos and beef tacos, slow cooked beef, and bringing them to my friend Camilla's house, who I've talked about so much, who I don't live with. Just to say again. Yeah, but I brought them to her house and got out of the car and dropped both parts on the ground. Oh, no. I will tell you, the foxes in Walthamstow had the best day of the day.

39:19And I'd made the tortillas and everything. No. Which was too much. I do too much. A lot. Okay, so at lunchtime, during a shift at the opticians. Oh. Tell us why. Yes, I worked at an opticians in Galway. I couldn't even get a full-time job in Galway doing anything. There was no work going. Went for an eye test and they were like, we need someone two days a week. I was like, I'm your girl. Yeah, I'll do it. What's that I used to get? I think I used to get like a lot of like baritos and stuff like that or like bring in, I love a wrap. Yeah. Bring in like a nice wrap with salad or stuff like that.

39:55I love your life in the opticians. Yeah. Actually, there's a crazy story I've never told before. Go on, tell us. Which I can tell you. Okay, so a lot of people that come in are quite elderly. Yeah. Right? So you would look on, you know, their form and ring and you'd be like, hello, John has due his eye test. And then John's widow would be like, Like my husband died and he'd be like, oh, this is absolutely horrible. It happened to me enough times that I was like, I can't do this anymore. I need to figure out a system. So in Ireland, there is a website. It's my mom's favorite website. It's called RIP.ie.

40:28I'm not making any of this up. She's on it. It's the only website she knows how to go on on her phone because she goes, okay, Google, RIP.ie. So it's death notices, which you also should have. Oh my God. in this country because how do you know if someone died? Yeah, how do you know if someone's dead? Exactly. Why? So what I started to do was if I saw someone's date of birth that was a little bit further into the past I would go I'm going to put them into RIP.A and I'm going to so I'd put them in their details and then if they had passed away I would print the page and I would staple it onto the thing and I'd put it in the back office.

41:03Oh yeah. Very efficient. However, there's a second part to this story. We got a lot of nuns coming in, right? So it'd be like Sister Ignatius born in 1932 and I started kind of then in my head going guessing if people were dead yeah just being honest that's what I did so it's like 1972 I don't think so okay RIP.ie Ignatius they were always alive nuns are immortal they would never die so I would call up the Abbey be like hello just to let you know Sister Ignatius is due for her eye test and Sister Ignatius will come in promptly the next week they never put it off because you ring men and they're like yeah I'll do in two months and you're like well you shouldn't be coming in now macular degeneration is a real problem the nuns would come in they would get the fanciest glasses they would be like I will have the Gucci's I will have the slimmed down lenses I will have the blue light protection and wow go on nuns true story love the nuns sister Ignatius yeah yeah it's quite a fun job yeah really fun job what was your oldest nun do you think they were so old yeah but they would come in but they had no stress And I was like, there's something, we need to study this.

42:12They were like, they're married to Jesus. They are wearing comfortable shoes. They're not dealing with day-to-day life. No. And also like, no outfit choices. Yeah, they know what they're wearing every day. They're like, outfit of the day, a habit. Right. I love that. So, I think before we do fast food, Chris, we'll do a little sweetness. Oh, yes. Did the ambassador say these especially? These are specially rolled. I made them for the ambassador. He said you can have them back. Are you allowed? Can you have one? I can't have them, can they? They've got gluten in it. Gluten in it, yeah. Oh my God, they've got a QR code on them now.

42:51No. I don't know how I feel about that. They're still so fancy to me. They are fancy. I've always felt they're fancy. Oh, it just takes you to the website. Yeah. Of course it does. What else did you think it was? I've never been eating a Ferrero and go, God, I wish I was on their website. They do an ice cream. Would I like... Yeah. They do a giant one. I love a Raffaello as well, which is like the white Ferrero with them. It's all like, ooh. Yeah, ooh, yeah. The coconut and it's really good. Tips and ideas how to reuse your Ferrero Rocher box. You could turn it into a light box. I would love to come around to your house and you'd turn the Ferrero Rocher box into a lamp.

43:29I might have done. Is that the Ferrero Rocher lamp? Nicola Cocklin, it is time for your fast food quiz. quick fire don't overthink this where are you going I thought it was the other one where are you going it's the wrong quiz no okay I was like off I'm off Nicola tell us your favourite way to eat eggs eggs fried currently okay favourite form of potato roast what is your favourite herb coriander oh does she miss the most when you're away from home oh curry chips oh yeah Name the best crisp. Tato's. Flavoury. Tato's salt and vinegar. Yeah. What's your favourite kitchen utensil? I do love my mandolin because I feel really chef-y and cool using this.

44:17Yeah. What's the best pickled thing? Best pickled thing? The cornichons. Yeah. Okay. What's your favourite pasta dish? Lemon pasta. I had in Hotel Chelsea in New York. It's supposed to sound so fancy. But it's like, I'm not a crazy pasta person, but it's lemon and parmesan and it's just really amazing. Sounds great. favorite beverage hot or cold sometimes just I can't believe how good water is oh yeah do you have it and you're like oh my god this stuff is good they really cooked with this they're like they're in here wow when it's like a really cold like sometimes like loading up I am one of those emotional support water bottle people and you're sipping you're like this is amazing yeah yeah yeah yeah that would be good we come to the end of the show question.

45:06Oh, wow. For your chance to win this Waitrose goodie bag, all you've got to do is answer this question. Is it about pickles? I don't know. Lots of stuff in there. Wow. Hi, Nicola. Thank you for making dreams come true and joining us on Dish. That's very nice. To win the Waitrose goodie bag, we have one question. In your opinion, what time is the right time to eat dinner? Yes. What's the time? I always end up eating later because I faff and try and do too many things. But I think seven. Oh, seven. I think seven. Yes. Realistic. If I say half six, it's not really ready. It's not going to happen.

45:44Yeah, sometimes I'm shocked by the time when I finish cooking. I'm like, it's 9 p.m. I'm not Spanish. I can't pull this off. I think it's seven. I think seven's quite good to be set at table. Seven. What about you, Ange? I'll go for seven. I appreciate that. I think when you're going into eight, nine, yeah, it's too late. Yeah, my mum will always say, like, if I'm coming home from set, because, I mean, every day is different, the times change, and she's like, it's very late. She's like, well, you don't need dinner now. She's like, it's very late. I'm like, yeah, but I've worked. I probably do.

46:14You're allowed to do. Exactly. I always, like, when my mum, I don't know if your mum does this, I feel like she may, if she has lunch out, she won't have any dinner. She's like, well, we won't need dinner, will we? Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a big thing. What are you on about? I do that. When I'm on holiday, like, when I was away recently, we sort of had lunch and we were like don't need dinner yeah because you were on the old you know collapse I'm sure why wouldn't she well 7pm is what we're going for that's official now yeah Nicola the goody bag is yours thank you very much oh thank you I'm very excited thank you so much for joining us so lovely and delicious thank you very much thank you round of applause Nicola Coughlin everybody thank you guys very much thank you Nicola thank you so much that was so nice to hang that was so lovely and that was so delish Hey, we love Nicola.

47:04Thank you to Nicola Coughlin. Brilliant. She is great to hang out with. I think she's so... I want to meet her mum. Yes, same. I want her mum to come and go out with all our mums. I think they'd just be perfect. It's such a good night out. It would. Let's make that happen. I feel she'd be like my mum that would just tell you off. Yeah. You know, she'd be like, don't say that. Yeah. You know, oh, Anjali, sound like a fisherman's wife laughing like that. Sorry, man. Sorry. I don't know why poor fisherman's wife did it badly. Sorry, if you are listening, You're a wife of a fisherman. Now, before we go, I wanted to read through some of these messages that we got from a recent episode.

47:37The one that we did with Niall Horan. We had a great time with Niall. Oh, it was brilliant. We really did. He was great. He was a real popular one and amazing comments on Instagram. Isha said, who wouldn't want Niall at the dinner party? Totally agree. Dream guest. Yeah, dream guest. Maria claimed, it's not a podcast today. It's a party. Did feel like a party. Another comment's then that they loved how the mutual hatred for coriander connected Angela and Niall on a spiritual level. Yeah. Yeah, you bonded that. We bonded, yeah. Imaginary Dave asked the most important question, how strong was that Negroni?

48:12Let me tell you, I've not drank since. So pretty strong, Dave. That said it all. It was pretty strong. Pretty strong, Dave. But you make quite the impression on Niall. Oh, gosh. Because I was on, I was just like doom scrolling the other day. As you do. And I came across Niall doing an interview with somebody, like a piece of content. And it was like, your album's called Dinner Party, which three people would you have at your dinner party? And he was like, I'd have Lewis Capaldi, I'd have Miles Smith, and I'd have my new friend, Angela Hartner. Love that. Oh, bless him, though. So Niall's like, my new friend, Angela Hartner.

48:46Oh, that's so sweet. So he loved you. Oh, it's very sweet. I need to give him a little thank on Instagram for that. Yeah, you messaged me. I sent it to Angela. I said, have you seen this? and then Angela replied to me as if I was Niall like oh thanks lovely Niall let me know if you want help at your dinner party and then I realised I'm not Niall and then I went oh it's you oh it's you by the way have you seen your wallpaper on Instagram so you know when I talk to you like you've obviously set this as like an Instagram like do you know that how have I done that? I don't know no your wallpaper's like K-pop or something I thought that was yours no that's yours oh I don't know how I've done that so your wallpaper is like an AI version of BTS like her background on Instagram I literally thought that was your wallpaper no that's yours oh I can't leave it I don't know just leave it It's quite out there, isn't it?

49:56It's so good. Someone must have done that. I was like, what the hell's that? Anyway, if you want to get in contact with us, you can email us, dishatwaittrails.co.uk. Or you can just message us on socials. Exactly. Slide into Angela's BTS DMs. We will see you next week. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Thank you. We'll see you next week.

50:18If that episode has left you wanting more, find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Just search Dish. If you want to make any of the meals I cook on Dish, head to waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes for all the ingredients and the recipes. Dish from Waitrose is a cold glass production. Waitrose, the home of food lovers.