Suranne Jones worked with an intimacy expert while filming lesbian sex scenes for her new drama Gentleman Jack.
The eight-part series, which is written and directed by Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright, tells the story of Anne Lister, a wealthy Victorian landowner and industrialist who is often hailed as ‘the first modern lesbian.’
The Doctor Foster star revealed that Wainwright hired intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien to help her approach the scenes “sensitively”.
“I was quite nervous about the sex scenes we had to do, because I thought they should be approached as sensitively as they could be,” she told the Daily Mirror.
“One of the great things she brought was an articulacy – we could talk about the scenes.
“She just started talking about body parts and positions in a matter of fact way, which just liberated us all.
“As well as helping us sculpt the sex scenes, the positions, she’s also there to provide support to the artists.”
Speaking at a screening in the United States, Jones said that the cast and crew were keen to portray a “loving relationship” rather than “titillation”.
“We all discussed the different kinds of relationships she had,” she said. “It’s about a loving relationship that develops between the two of them. That’s how to tell a story rather than titillation.”
Gentleman Jack is set to air on BBC One later this month, and follows Lister’s story as she attempts to restore her family’s West Yorkshire home to its former glory and sets her sights upon marrying wealthy heiress Ann Walker (played by Sophie Rundle).
Gemma Whelan, Timothy West and Gemma Jones will also star in the series, which premiered on HBO in the US last month.
