Their Channel 4 TV series looks at how mental illness can infiltrate the strongest of sisterhoods.
It’s fair to say that the “mood” surrounding Channel 4’s new series Big Mood can be summarised in one word: chaos. The chaos of keeping your life together in your 30s, the chaos of close friendship and the chaos inside our minds when grappling with our mental health.
Starring Bridgerton and Barbie’s Nicola Coughlan and It’s A Sin star Lydia West, this isn’t one to be missed. The show’s six episodes explore the lives of Maggie (Coughlan) and Eddie (West), whose bond is tested when Maggie’s bipolar disorder threatens her ability to stay present for her friend. From an impromptu Love Actually birthday party to embarking on a pagan witch meet-up, Big Mood is defined by its comedic moments in times of true struggles for both Eddie and Maggie.
Just like in real life, and certainly through life with mental illness, Big Mood doesn’t turn out the way you think it might, or should – but that’s part of its beauty and authenticity.
The show was written and directed by Camilla Whitehill, a drama school friend of Nicola’s, who aimed to create a fully-fledged human being in Maggie, who isn’t completely defined by the fact she has bipolar disorder. The show and script balances darkness with comedy expertly, as do Lydia and Nicola. Both have been vocal in the past about mental health – Nicola in a previous GLAMOUR interview about her experiences with depression and Lydia in her campaign for mental health to be taken more seriously in the film and TV world.
Their amazing chemistry on screen is at least partially due to a friendship offscreen that was cultivated onset, but began a few years back when they met at the BAFTAs. So Nicola and Lydia sat down with GLAMOUR to play the Bestie Test, opening up about each others’ best and worst habits on set, dream dates and who would play Nicola in her biopic – and the answer to the latter will definitely surprise you.
Lydia: What is my biggest dating or relationship ick?
Nicola: I feel like you would keep someone that’s pretentious. Like someone that wouldn’t watch reality TV with you and takes themselves really seriously and is vain.
Lydia: Completely.
Nicola: Yeah. I feel like you need someone who’s like really down to earth… That doesn’t love themselves and is gonna Vanderpump Rules with you.
Lydia: Someone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously, that is everything.
Nicola: Anyone like that, very actor-y behaviour, I feel is a massive turnoff to you. Not with a female actress but with male actors it can sometimes be a bit of an ick, sometimes [laughs].
Lydia: What would be my top alcoholic or soft drink of choice?
Nicola: You love a Diet Coke. And alcoholic drink.. You like a champagne don’t you? And a marg.
Lydia: I love a marg, that’s my go-to. Yeah, I love a marg.
Nicola: Did I make you a marg at my house? No we had champagne at my house.
Lydia: I’ve only ever drank champagne with you. With Camilla [Big Mood’s writer] we’d go to the most deadbeat bar and they’d try to order champagne and it wouldn’t be available. So they’re like “fine we’ll just have some white wine”.
Nicola: It just doesn’t hit the same. I did enough years of terrible £4 corner shop white wine. I feel like I’ve earned my stripes, you know? I’m a grown woman now. Champagne life.
Lydia: What would be my dream birthday party?
Nicola: Well, I don’t know if I have an unfair advantage. I know what you did for your 30th – I feel like going away with all your friends somewhere, sitting together having meals and just chilling out in the sunshine. Yeah, but is that like unfair? Because I did know what you did. And I couldn’t go. I was gutted. Next time.
Lydia: Give me an example of my best and worst habits from our time on set?
Nicola: Your best habits. I feel like you have really good vibes in a really authentic way. Like you’re not someone that’s like [brightly] “hey everyone, how’s it going?” but you’re very authentically a kind and sweet person. I feel like the worst habits is the one that we share, that once we’re done with the scene we just don’t want to do it. And we’ll say it like, “I just don’t want to do it anymore. I’m tired.” We’re like, “I’m done. I want to go home.” I feel like we bring that out to each other. But I also really love that about you. I want to do the best job I can do but then there’s a certain point it’s like, diminishing returns, you’re not gonna get anything good from me. And you’re like, “I just want to go home.”
Lydia: What’s my biggest fear? I don’t think you know this.
Nicola: I don’t know, you like swimming so it’s not water. It’s not rats because we had a scene with rats.
Lydia: Death, an irrational fear of death! I’m actually not afraid of death.
Nicola: That’s very metal of you.
Lydia: I have a fear of heights.
Nicola: Me too, I hate them! I was in Sydney and they were like “do you want to walk across the Harbour Bridge?” I was like “I do not”.
Lydia: What moment do you think we made the jump from colleagues to friends?
Nicola: It was pretty quick, I feel.
Lydia: I feel like I never saw you as a colleague.
Nicola: No, not really. But also I had a vulnerable conversation with you. I was like, “I want to start every job and I really always want to make like really close friends and you don’t always. And when you don’t it makes me sad”. And you were like, “No, we’ll be friends.” I obviously needed that reassurance and it just made me feel like safe. So like that moment? I’d actually probably felt that before that but that was like a distinct moment that I felt that.
Nicola: So what Love Actually character would I go to a fancy dress party dressed as?
Lydia: I think you’d go as one of the engaged girlies.
Nicola: One of the sexy American girls.
Lydia: Yeah I just feel like what Maggie went as [in Big Mood] didn’t do justice.
Nicola: I mean, I potentially never looked worse in my entire human life on this earth. But you know, you’ve got to commit to the part. Everything was so hot and itchy, I had almost like lip gloss on my face to make me look sweaty. It’s like that line from Sex and the City you take a brown paper bag and put a stapler in and cover it in dog sh*t, that’s sort of what it felt like on that day.
Lydia: You were such a good sport. I remember you would arrive on set without going through hair and makeup.
Nicola: Yeah, it was incredible. Because I had to look so terrible that sometimes I would literally roll out of bed and drive to set and be like, “here I am, didn’t wash my hair today!”
Lydia: I remember being jealous of you being skipping hair and makeup.
Nicola: What would be my dream date?
Lydia: I think you’re naturally you like you’re very giving. So I think your dream date would be actually you serving something inviting someone to your house, serving them dinner. It’s a beautiful trait, and the right person who appreciates that will love that and be so flattered by it and also do the same for you. They’d cook you a delicious Irish meal, bacon and cabbage. You’d bring the soda bread and you’d watch like one of your favourite movies or TV shows, Arrested Development. And then you would laugh and then you’d kiss, and then they’d tell you they loved you ever since they first met you a few hours ago [both laugh] and then you would you would say goodbye, see you soon.
GLAMOUR: Correct answer or no?
Nicola: I don’t eat pork so not bacon and cabbage, it was also one of my hated meals as a kid. I really hated it, I can smell it now. But the “I love you ever since I met you a few hours ago”, that was lovely. I feel like I like both very nice and very terrible stuff, I like McDonalds but I also like somewhere they sell oysters. I also love being in my house so much, I love my couch.
Nicola: What’s your favourite moment of mine from the Big Mood set?
Lydia: I would say it would be the Love Actually party… You were holding a rat which you have an irrational fear of… Well not irrational actually.
Nicola: No, they did the plague!
Lydia: They did that.
Nicola: They’ve not always been great guys. What’s my biggest pet peeve?
Lydia: When people are mean, have bad energy or are unkind.
Nicola: I think so, it’s because I’m not actively mean. I can have a disagreement with someone but I would never be outright [mean] so when people do it to me I’m so affronted by it.
Lydia: You’re just so kind to everyone and you treat them with such respect, when people don’t give that back to you and disrespect you you’re just so affected by it. Because you can’t imagine ever being that.
Nicola: I’m just a sensitive Sally.
Lydia: Yeah, but it’s beautiful.
Nicola: Who would play me in my biopic and why?
Lydia: I don’t know the names of any actors in the whole wide world. Who’s a great blonde actor? Leonardo DiCaprio.
Nicola: In a wig.
Lydia: In a wig! [laughs] He has beautiful blue eyes. You have stunning blue eyes. He has blonde hair. He’s hot. He’s good to the environment.
GLAMOUR to Nicola: Who would you want to play you in your biopic?
Lydia: Who played Weird Barbie?
Nicola: Kate McKinnon. Oh yeah can I have Kate McKinnon?
Lydia: She’d be incredible as an older version of you.
Nicola: I once got a text from her and it was the best moment of my life. My friend text me like “Kate McKinnon wants your number.” I was like “WHAT?”
Lydia: She’s incredible.
Nicola: I love her so much.
Glamour UK
Written by Charley Ross
Published April 4, 2024
