Nicola Coughlan, Lydia West on 'Big Mood' Season 2: "It Was a Dream"
Nicola Coughlan in season two of 'Big Mood.'
Courtesy of Channel 4
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Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West are again embracing the messiness of female friendship in season two of Big Mood, and they’re delighted about it.
“It’s a bit of a role reversal in this series,” the Bridgerton and Derry Girls star tells The Hollywood Reporter about creator Camilla Whitehill’s Channel 4 hit. She and West are catching us up over Zoom ahead of the six-parter’s Thursday, Apr. 16 release, available on Tubi in the U.S.
The Irish actress is referring to the lead duo, Maggie and Eddie, who are continuing to figure out life as two 30-something-year-olds in East London. Their absurd adventures remain speckled with moments of jolting sincerity — centering on Maggie’s bipolar disorder and Eddie’s unaddressed grief — slotting the “dark” into this dark comedy.
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“Maggie’s trying really hard to be the stable one,” Coughlan says about her character in this installment, “and Eddie’s the one going through a crisis — not that she really realizes it.” Season two revolves around the pair, having not spoken for a year after Eddie left for L.A. without Maggie, re-entering one another’s lives. Except Eddie’s come back with a friend in tow, Whitney (Hannah Onslow), whose ulterior motives are swiftly sussed out by everyone except Eddie.
“She is this hippie, spiritual guru-TikTok influencer,” explains West. “But Eddie buys into her charm [and] a world which Eddie has never really seen before. And Eddie’s really vulnerable. Someone like that preys on the vulnerable.”
Luckily, she has Maggie looking out for her. Even with distance — emotional and physical — between them, Coughlan and West’s onscreen chemistry is a safe bet. “There’s a real warmth and ease between them,” says Lotte Beasley, executive producer at Dancing Ledge Productions. “They’re exceptional comic performers, but they also bring an emotional honesty that makes you root for Maggie and Eddie’s friendship, even when it’s at its most chaotic.”
Below, Coughlan and West dive into season two of Big Mood. They discuss the pressure of representing the bipolar community onscreen, their favorite British pop culture references and that downright perfect celebrity guest star episode: “It’s such a good trait when someone’s not afraid to take the complete piss out of themselves. And he just really went for that.”
Where do we pick up with Maggie and Eddie in season two?
LYDIA WEST We leave season one with Eddie catching a flight to L.A. without Maggie, and we see their exit, Eddie getting into the car. [In season two] we flash forward, we’re a year later, and we’re at one of our friends’ weddings, and we’re both bridesmaids for this wedding. We haven’t spoken in a year. Eddie is now off-grid, so she hasn’t got a phone. She’s not on social media or anything. Nobody really knows if Eddie’s going to turn up. And then she does.
Has there been any personal growth for either of them that’s happened off-camera?
NICOLA COUGHLAN Yeah, I think Maggie’s definitely trying her best. She’s trying to do all of the correct things that you’re supposed to do as a stable person. She’s doing yoga and Peloton and taking vitamins and doing all that stuff. [Laughs.] Just trying to better herself. But I think she’s gone [for] an extreme version of that, which I’m not sure is very true to who she actually is. And she’s missed Eddie absolutely terribly, and, yeah, gets the shock of her life when she turns up at this wedding.
Lydia West in season two of ‘Big Mood.’
Courtesy of Channel 4
What do you think fans can expect, Nicola?
COUGHLAN It’s a bit of a role reversal in this series. I think because Maggie’s trying really hard to be the stable one, and Eddie’s the one going through a crisis — not that she really realizes it. But then it’s the difficulty of Maggie trying to seem really sane and really on top of everything, and everything just going absolutely horribly wrong at every turn. You really feel for her. And it was interesting playing i