Television viewers have criticised Hollywood star Adam Sandler after he repeatedly touched British actress Claire Foy during a BBC chat show, appearing to make her visibly uncomfortable.

The American actor, 51, placed his hand on Foy's knee as he told an anecdote during the Graham Norton Show and touched her again after she brushed him away.

The Crown actress, 33, squirmed with apparent discomfort as the comic's hand rested on her leg for two seconds.

British Oscar-winner Emma Thompson, also appearing as a guest on the programme, appeared to glare at Sandler, while some viewers said they "felt very uncomfortable" watching the footage.

Thompson, who appears alongside Sandler in 2017 comedy-drama film The Meyerowitz Stories, has led criticism of "endemic" sexual harassment in Hollywood after sexual allegations against Harvey Weinstein emerged.

"With all that's happening did I just see Claire Foy looking a little distressed at Adam Sandler's hands all over her knees?" wrote viewer Gary Bishop on Twitter.

"Felt very uncomfortable watching Adam repeatedly put his unwanted hand on the knee of Claire Foy and the wonderous Emma T," said Ange Cuthbert.

Justine Harkness said : "I don't think Adam Sandler would have done that if he'd been sitting next to a man. That's why it's a problem."

Another viewer, Michelle Marsh, added: "Adam Sandler has no social awareness of how awkward he seemed to be making Emma Thompson and Claire Foy #stoptouching".

A spokesman for Sandler, a married father-of-two, described his actions as "a friendly gesture". Some viewers noted he touched Dustin Hoffman's knee in a similar way during an interview on Jimmy Fallon's talk show on American TV this month.

Earlier this month Sense and Sensibility star Thompson, 58, said Weinstein was "at the top of the ladder of is a system of harassment, and belittling, and bullying, and interference" after dozens of women accused the film producer of sexual abuse.

"I didn't know about these things, but they don't surprise me at all, and they're endemic to the system anyway," she told the BBC. She added the disgraced mogul was "the top of a very particular iceberg" and was just one of many "predators" in Hollywood.

“Do they have to all be as bad as him to make it count? Does it only count if you really have done it to loads and loads and loads of women? Or does it count if you do it to one woman once? I think the latter,” she said.