Nicola Coughlan confirms romance with Renegade star Jake Dunn

She is one-half of the nation's favourite on-screen couple - 'Polin' - in her role as Bridgerton's main character Penelope Featherington who fell in love with Colin Bridgerton. 

But fans of the Netflix hit sensation will be devastated as Nicola Coughland, 37, has finally confirmed her romance with the actor Jake Dunn, 24.

The couple were spotted hand-in-hand heading back home from a romantic night out in London on Wednesday night.

Jake, who stars in the Channel 4 series, Big Boys, took off his baseball hat and placed it on Nicola's head to hide her from prying eyes as they walked together with their fingers intertwined.

Meanwhile, the Derry Girls star wore a navy blue summer dress with a loose cardigan wrapped around her shoulders as she lovingly kissed her boyfriend's hand.

Friends of the couple have told MailOnline that Louisa Harland, who starred opposite Nicola in Derry Girls, played matchmaker and introduced the couple after she met Jake while filming for her latest series, Renegade Nell.

The pair were first spotted together as far back as March when posing for an Instagram story shared by one of Jake's co-stars in Renegade Nell.

In August the pair were seen at London's All Points East festival with their arms wrapped around each other dancing, but their relationship was not confirmed.

But since then they have been spotted together on several occasions, including playing scrabble in pubs around Nicola's home in Stoke Newington in North London.

Jake is from London while Nicola hails from Galway in Ireland but has lived in the capital since 2016 for more acting opportunities but previously opened up about how lonely she found it.

She said: 'I had the worst time of my life. It sucked so hard. I found it difficult... I was so lonely when I moved. 

'That was one of the killer things for me. I was like 'I don't like it here because I don't know anyone'. I used to let that city, that whole rat race thing get to me.

'I'm little, so I'd be on the Tube and people would put their elbows on my head. I was going into work feeling really sad. That first year totally sucked, hated it.'

Fresh out of drama school, Jake is already making a name for himself and met Nicola through his friends on Disney's Renegade Nell, an 18th-century historical fantasy series, and has previously appeared in shows like Netflix's Get Even and BBC's Rebel Cheer Squad: A Get Even Series.

Meanwhile, Nicola has enjoyed playing this summer's power couple 'Polin' with her Bridgerton co-star, Luke Newton, as the internet was awash with pleas for the pair to be together in real life.

Bridgerton series three finally saw Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton's friendship blossom into a romance.

After a slow burner in part one, fans were left wanting more as they had to wait until episode four for Penelope and Colin to give in to their passions in a steamy carriage scene.

And now the pair have finally tied the knot as they walked down the aisle, marking another Bridgerton marriage.

Fans of the fictional pair, lovingly dubbed 'Polin' and who went from friends to lovers, were therefore ecstatic when the couple not only married but indulged in a passionate sex scene.

Nicola shared a snap of the chaise lounge where the pair filmed before revealing that she and Luke managed to break the piece of furniture with their antics.

'Part Two is out now. We put our hearts and souls into it. I hope you love watching it as much as we loved filming it. #PolinForever,' she captioned the photos.

The behind-the-scenes Insta snaps showed Nicola and Luke giving the camera a thumbs up as they posed with the damaged chaise lounge.

Nicola previously revealed: 'I think we've won the sauciness for this series!' as she teased that she and Luke had damaged the set with their onscreen romps.

She told Entertainment Weekly: 'We did break a piece of furniture while doing one scene. It's a little bit like a stunt in which they're like, 'Okay, we're gonna do this, this, and this.'

'But then they gave us freedom and we had a lot of say in how we did those scenes and what we wanted to do. That makes you feel quite empowered.

'So we felt super. They were actually really enjoyable. I didn't think they would be. It was fun.'