Ruth Wilson: I can't watch my sex scenes

The Luther actress, who next stars in Sky Atlantic’s new drama The Affair, joked she may have to leave the country to avoid the embarrassment of her parents watching her raunchy scenes on screen.

“When it does come out I’ll leave the country,” she told Radio Times.

“It’s vulnerable. You’re naked and you’re in this situation and you know your family is going to have to watch it. I can’t cope.”

In the Showtime series, Ruth plays waitress Alison Bailey, who is having an affair with schoolteacher Noah Solloway, played by Dominic West. Her performance has already won her a Golden Globe award for best actress.

The 33-year-old actress, best known for playing Alice Morgan in the BBC crime drama Luther, brushed off the controversy surrounding the sex scenes, saying they are carefully choreographed and planned.

“Of course, in The Affair, you have to have sex scenes. That’s a major part of the relationship,” she explained.

“But it was about making it as interesting and important as the rest of it. I argue this stuff all the time, that these scenes need to be real and they need to have a narrative as much as any other scene.

“They can’t be purely titillation. They need to move the story and the characters forward. It’s hard to make good sex scenes work – there are so many c**p ones out there.”

Ruth added: “I have a big concern about how women are treated in the industry generally, and how they have to provide the titillation…

“It’s assumed that women will get their breasts out, and have to get their breasts out and I baulk at that. It’s unnecessary and it’s unfair.”

The Affair premieres on Sky Atlantic on May 13.