Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge says the entertainment industry has “woken the fxxk up” with regards to the #metoo movement and are exploring more female-focused stories as a result.

Waller-Bridge, who is in Cannes to promote the drama alongside Grey’s Anatomy’s Sandra Oh and Doctor Foster’s Jodie Comer, said, “I think people have woken the fxxk up and they can’t get away without having the conversation anymore. There’s a huge appetite and a need for these stories to be told and they are coming to the surface. They are becoming more specific and nuanced and people are open to hearing those stories. It’s not like people haven’t been writing these stories for ages. It feels like Killing Eve is a really great example of that embrace.”

This comes after the eight-part spy thriller, which is produced by UK producer Sid Gentle Films, was renewed for a second season by BBC America. The series stars Oh as Eve, a bored MI5 security officer, whose desk job does not fulfil her fantasies of being a spy and is tasked with tracking down fearsome assassin Villanelle, played by Comer. It is based on the Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings and is written and exec produced by Waller-Bridge.

The show is being sold in Cannes by Endeavor Content, which recently closed a deal to air it on BBC One and BBC Three in the UK.

Comer agreed with Waller-Bridge, who created Fleabag, that things had started to change in the business. It’s a reason I’m hugely proud of this show, not only is it written by a women but women are at the center of it, not just in front of the camera but behind the camera, and particularly at this moment, that’s huge.”