Ruth Wilson, the award-winning British actress, quit her role in a leading US television drama because she felt coerced into nudity and gratuitous sex scenes, it has been claimed.

The star of His Dark Materials is said to have found herself in a “hostile work environment” on the set of The Affair. She left the show abruptly last year in a move that took the industry by surprise.

The allegations, detailed in an investigation by The Hollywood Reporter, are unusual because the executive accused of pressuring Wilson into sex scenes is a woman.

Sarah Treem, creator and producer of The Affair, is said to have remained “tone-deaf” to Wilson’s discomfort.

Wilson is said to have objected to a “rapey” sex scene in which she was required to be violently pushed up against a tree by her co-star, Dominic West.