More and more plus-sized women are becoming leading ladies, thanks to Nicola Coughlan paving the way in Netflix‘s Bridgerton.
Now Emily Atack is following in the footsteps of Irish beauty Nicola, stripping off for nude tennis scenes and lingerie-clad romps in new ‘bonkbuster’ series Rivals.
The rise of ‘real bodies’ has become increasingly more apparent in shows, after years of extremely slender women romantic leads being hailed as the beauty standard.
Jilly Coopers’ Disney+ series Rivals is being celebrated for showcasing body positivity in sexy scenes, no matter what size or shape you are.
Emily, who plays the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister, Sarah Stratton, has described stripping naked in scenes ‘so liberating’.
More and more plus-sized women are becoming leading ladies, thanks to Nicola Coughlan (left) paving the way in Netflix’s Bridgerton (Emily Atack pictured right in Rivals)
Jilly Coopers’ Disney+ series Rivals is being celebrated for showcasing body positivity in sexy scenes, no matter what size or shape you are
The rise of ‘real bodies’ have become increasingly more apparent in shows, after years of portraying the lead character to be a certain size
Emily, who plays the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister, Sarah Stratton, has described stripping naked in scenes ‘so liberating’
Like Emily and Nicola, Melissa McCarthy, Rebel Wilson and Queen Latifah have all excelled in the film-making industry as plus-sized actresses.
Since filmmakers relaxed the standards of fashion and dress size, it has allowed viewers to feel represented.
Using ‘real bodies’ like Melissa, Rebel, Queen Latifah, Emily and Nicola on screen moves the old narrative that ‘all lead actresses are thin’ to shift and welcome all sizes.
All within the first 25 minutes of the first episode, viewers are treated to a raunchy sex montage – which sees Emily strip down to black lingerie.
The actress then strips naked to play tennis with Alex Hassell’s character Rupert Campbell Black, who is also starkers.
Emily is completely nude in the eye-popping, where she protects her modesty with a just tennis ball and racket.
As well as Emily, her co-star Alex dares to bare in the cheeky game of tennis.
Emily’s character Sarah is married to Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stratton but is having a fling on the side with Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Alex.
The actress then strips off to play tennis with Alex Hassell’s character Rupert Campbell Black, who is also starkers
Emily goes completely nude in a sexy tennis scene where she covers her modesty with a tennis ball and racket
Of the racy scenes, Emily told Sky News: ‘It’s so liberating and of course there are going to be people out there that take what you do and try and spin this negative narrative on it. I’m a woman, of course people are going to do that’
After the racy tennis scene, Emily gets intimate with her on-screen husband while a gay couple performs oral sex.
In the sex montage, the camera then pans to Danny Dyer, who plays Freddie Jones, and David Tennant, who stars as Tony, jumping into bed naked with Nafessa Williams, who plays Cameron – despite his wife at home alone.
Of the racy scenes, Emily told Sky News: ‘It’s so liberating and of course there are going to be people out there that take what you do and try and spin this negative narrative on it. I’m a woman, of course people are going to do that.
‘But what I need to keep doing is stressing to people is I’m exactly where I need to be, I’m at work. I’m playing a role and I’m very comfortable.’
Nicola was applauded for promoting body positivity in her leading, sexy role in Bridgerton.
Throughout the series, Nicola – who plays Penelope Featherington in the hit show – wows in plenty of racy scenes, as well as a naked sex scene.
During a special screening Q&A in Dublin about the new episodes, a female journalist commented that she was ‘very brave’ to play the role of Penelope Featherington – which some fans branded a ‘backhanded comment’.
And in a video captured by Goss.ie, Nicola then brilliantly responded saying: ‘You know, it is hard because I think women with my body type – women with perfect breasts – we don’t get to see ourselves on screen enough!’
‘And I’m very proud as a member of the perfect breasts community. I hope you enjoy seeing them.’
Fans of the star were quick to respond to the moment that has begun circulating on social media as they said: ‘It must have been one of those insulting, backhanded comments. Nicola’s clever!’
‘Great response, shame we don’t see Luke’s reaction lol’, ‘Brilliant! Next question!’, ‘Icon behavior’, ‘She’s my queen.’
Emily previously revealed that there was an intimacy co-ordinator on the Rivals’ set.
Nicola was applauded for promoting body positivity in her leading, sexy role in Bridgerton
Throughout the series, Nicola – who plays Penelope Featherington in the hit show – is within plenty racy scenes as well as a naked sex scene
And in a video captured by Goss.ie, Nicola then brilliantly responded saying: ‘You know, it is hard because I think women with my body type – women with perfect breasts – we don’t get to see ourselves onscreen enough!’
‘As soon as I read it, I got the same feeling that I got when I first auditioned for Charlotte from The Inbetweeners; the same little thrill in my stomach of, “Oh my god, this is perfect for me”,’ she told The Radio Times.
When promoting the series, the TV favourite spoke openly about her rise to fame on The Inbetweeners and how it shaped it career.
She told The Guardian: ‘I was a very vulnerable teenager, but there was an air of kind of naive confidence in me. I thought, “I need this job, I need to pay my rent.” And from there, my life changed for ever.’
As The Inbetweeners found huge success, Emily soon found herself booked for magazine shoots.
She said: ‘This is where I get confused. And I was confused then,’ admitted Emily. ‘I was told, “You’ve got a photoshoot today” and it would be for Loaded magazine, or for FHM… So I was all, “Yep, clothes off, bikini on. Whatever.” Genuinely, I had no problems with that – I enjoyed those shoots.
‘I was celebrating my youth and my sexuality in beautiful locations, wearing gorgeous underwear… and I f****** loved it. It was great. I naively didn’t think what narrative was being painted for me.’
Unfortunately, she soon became a target for a torrent of online abuse which included fat-shaming and cyber flashing.
But to those people who have suggested the actress should’ve seen that coming, Emily insisted she didn’t show herself off in an ‘overtly sexual way’ and was instead simply promoting her work.
As The Inbetweeners found huge success, Emily soon found herself booked for lads magazine shoots, but ‘naively didn’t think what narrative was being painted for me’
Rivals focuses on the tense rivalry between Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant)
The highly-anticipated new Disney+ series, which has been hailed as a ‘bonkbuster,’ already has an average of 93% on the Tomatometer
After The Inbetweeners, 13 films (including Get Lucky and Outside Bet) followed, where Emily played similar ‘totty’ roles.
Despite the mainly British movies often promising that it would chart the course to Hollywood for the actress, Emily recalled how one brutal meeting in LA ended with her being told she had to become a UK size six to be considered for any future role.
She said: ‘All of a sudden, my weight was a thing. And since then, my weight has always been a thing.’
But in 2018 her career improved significantly once again after she appeared on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and won second place behind Harry Redknapp – a TV comedy series, called The Emily Atack Show, and a one-woman standup show followed.
However, the actress revealed how still had to deal with trolls and critics who claimed women couldn’t be amusing.
