British film and television directors have been given guidelines on sex scenes to help protect actors.
Industry figures have introduced the recommendations believe it will help the UK catch up with the US by having intimacy coordinators on shows.
Bill Anderson, who has helped put the guidelines together, says they eliminate any "grey areas".
Anderson said: "There are these grey areas at the moment. Actors want to do daring work, but they also want to be able to go home and read a bedtime story to their kids without being horrified about what they’ve done on set a few hours earlier."
The guidelines include rules which ask television professionals to consider whether sex scenes are necessary and ensure that first auditions never involved nudity. It also advises production staff to debrief cast and crew after any nudity or simulated sex scenes.
Yarit Dor, co-founder of Intimacy Directors International, says the guidelines were introduced sooner in the US as a result of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
She said: "In the US it happened much faster because of Harvey Weinstein. The UK hadn’t resisted it, but now more British directors want to know about intimacy coordinators and best practices."
The news comes after Emilia Clarke claimed this week that she was told on the ‘Game of Thrones’ set that she’d "disappoint" fans of the HBO drama if she didn’t film nude scenes.
She explained: "I know too much about nudity waivers. I mean, this way back in the day. So, now things are very, very different and I’m a lot more savvy about what I’m comfortable with and what I am OK with doing.
"Like, I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, ‘No! Sheet stays up’ and they’re like, ‘You don’t want to disappoint your ‘Game of Thrones’ fans’ and I’m like, ‘F**k you.’ "
Guidelines drawn up for sex scenes in British cinema
