Claire Foy has made her thoughts on filming sex scenes clear, calling them ‘grim’ and saying they make her ‘feel exploited’.

The actress, 37, will next be seen in new BBC series A Very British Scandal, playing Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll, who was the subject of salacious gossip and stories after the publication of explicit photographs during her divorce proceedings.

The series explores the 1963 court case, where husband Ian Campbell (Paul Bettany) alleged that she had sex with 88 men, and provided photographs showing her performing a sex act on an unknown man.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Foy said: “It’s a really hard line because basically you do feel exploited when you are a woman and you are having to perform fake sex on screen. You can’t help but feel exploited.

“It’s grim – it’s the grimmest thing you can do. You feel exposed. Everyone can make you try to not feel that way but it’s unfortunately the reality.

“But my thing was that I felt very strongly that it had to be in it, but I wanted it to be female. I did not want it to be that sort of awful climactic sexual experience you often see on the cinema screen.”

A Very British Scandal will air in three parts on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9pm on Boxing Day, with the final instalment on December 28.