Emily Atack has spoken about filming a full-frontal nudity scene for the new steamy '80s drama Rivals on Disney+.
The former Inbetweeners star plays Sarah Stratton, who uses her cache as the wife of the Prime Minister's deputy, played by Rufus Jones, to leverage a TV presenter post.
But when her character Sarah is first seen on screen, she's playing tennis naked with the rake of the drama, Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Alex Hassell.
This game of stark-naked tennis is an infamous scene from the Jilly Cooper novel of the same name, which Rivals is an adaptation of.
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During an exclusive interview with Digital Spy ahead of the show's release, Atack said that her main worry when she first read the script was that she was going to have to learn how to play tennis.
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She said: "It wasn't, 'I'm gonna have to run around a tennis court completely starkers'. But, I like a big entrance. I was like, 'Yeah, bring it on'.
"We keep saying that the nudity and the sex scenes are a huge part of this, but there's always a reason for them. We're not just getting our kit off for no reason. They're very integral to the storylines and characters."
Atack went on to say that when she met Hassell, they instantly hit it off and she felt "completely comfortable" with him, as well as with the crew and director Elliot Hegarty.
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Speaking about filming the scene, she said: "We all knew each other really well by then. I think anybody that had nudity scenes and sex scenes, we all just really supported each other, so we loved talking about it. It was liberating and it was very safe.
"We had intimacy coordinators, which is something that actually, I've never experienced before, which was really great to see how far we've come in that sense.
"I couldn't have felt more comfortable and looked after, and it was fun, great fun. It was summer, nice and warm. I had a great spray tan – off to the races."
Atack explained that she wore a merkin to film the scene and watched it back to make sure she felt comfortable with how much was shown.
"They let me have a say on that, which was nice," Atack said. "But yeah, it was fine. I'm an actress, doing my job, playing a role."
Rivals launches exclusively on Disney+ on October 18.
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Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
