Game Of Thrones star Gemma Whelan has revealed sex scenes on the fantasy series could be a "frenzied mess" with directors telling the actors to "just go for it".
The 40-year-old actress played Ironborn warrior Yara Greyjoy in the hit HBO show for six seasons, with her bisexual character eventually earning her rightful place as Queen of the Iron Islands.
Gemma was also involved in several racy scenes during her stint on the fantasy series, and she revealed she and her co-stars were "almost literally" left to get on with it by the directors.
"They used to just say, 'When we shout action, go for it!', and it could be a sort of frenzied mess," she confessed to The Guardian.
"A director might say, 'Bit of boob biting, then slap her bum and go!', but I'd always talk it through with the other actor."
She said there was "always an instinct" for the actors to check in with one another before filming began, in an effort to create a comfortable environment for those involved.
"There was a scene in a brothel with a woman and she was so exposed that we talked together about where the camera would be and what she was happy with," she explained.
In the second season of Game of Thrones Yara and Theon, played by Alfie Allen, had a notoriously intimate scene on a horse.
Whelan said the recent introduction of intimacy consultants on-set have made her feel more comfortable about sex scenes. She said: "Alfie was very much, 'Is this Okay? How are we going to make this work?'"
"With intimacy directors, it’s choreography - you move there, I move there, and permission and consent is given before you start. It is a step in the right direction," she added.
Earlier this year her GoT co-star Hannah Waddingham described a torture scene in the show as "the worst day of my life", claiming she was actually strapped down and waterboarded for 10 hours.
The 46-year-old English West End theatre actor played devoted follower of The High Sparrow, Septa Unella in the HBO show – who was tortured by villainous queen Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey, in season six.
Waddingham told Collider's Ladies Night podcast: "There I was strapped to a wooden table with proper big straps for 10 hours. And definitely, other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life... I was beside myself."
She went on: "I had no voice at all to barely whisper, bruises already coming up like I had been attacked, and I was like, ‘I've basically just been waterboarded for 10 hours.'
"The one thing I kept thinking to myself [was] ‘the production company aren't going to let you die, so get on with it, be uncomfortable.'"