Ruth Gemmell "went home and cried" when she discovered she had a sex scene in Bridgerton.

The 58-year-old actress was "shocked" to learn during a costume fitting that she needed to prepare for an intimate moment between her character Lady Violet Bridgerton and co-star Daniel Francis' alter ego Lord Marcus Anderson.

She told Ciné-Télé-Revue: "I was a little bit shocked. I was in a costume fitting, and I realised that I was being fitted for something that I had no idea was going to happen. I went home and cried."

But Ruth thinks the show handled the moment well, joking bosses used "low lighting".

She said: "Thankfully, we tackled this one in a slightly different way to the kids of the show, because I don't think anyone would want to watch that really. I was a bit shocked."

And Ruth thinks it was "important" to show the widowed mother-of-eight finding love again following the death of her husband Edmund many years before.

She said: "I think it is important. We don't die after a certain age, so it's quite nice to kind of represent that.

"It's very lovely to see young love and love for the first time, but it's also very important and lovely to see somebody who has loved and lost and grieved and comes with a myriad of baggage, because everyone can identify with that, and I think that's important to show."

The Penny Dreadful actress previously praised her colleagues on Bridgerton for helping her to feel comfortable when it came to shooting the scene, which was overseen by an intimacy co-ordinator.

She told TheWrap: "I have to be honest that when I knew it was going to happen, I was quite scared, but then it was very apparent that everybody got on board -- costume, hair and make-up … which is about making you feel comfortable and confident.

"I lucked out on that whole score, so that was comforting, and the producers and the director -- the crew a big part of it, because it's like a family, and if you feel comfortable with those people, then you feel confident. And working with Daniel was a treat … It was a real laugh and a bit of a relief."

Daniel, 43, admitted he wasn't always comfortable during the filming either.

He said: "You need to be comfortable and even with the comfort level, there's nothing that really prepares you for the moment that you step on set and there's a camera right by your a**… and then nothing prepares you for the moment that you're sitting there and you see your a** on the screen. That's a whole new experience."