Aisling Bea explains why she struggled to film intimate scene with Romesh Ranganathan

Comedian said she swore Ranganathan to secrecy after kissing on-set

Aisling Bea has revealed why she struggled to film sex scenes with fellow comedian Romesh Ranganathan in their new series.

The comedian-turned-actor, 40, opened up about her work on the sitcom Avoidance during a forthcoming appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show.

She spoke about series two of the show, in which she becomes the love interest of a character played by Ranganathan – a role that saw the pair, who are friends in real life, kiss for the very first time.

Opening up about her relationship with Ranganathan, 46, Bea explained that they’ve been friends for approximately 15 years – so it was “totally harder” to be intimate during their scenes.

“We’ve been friends for about 15 years but this is the second series of his show that he wrote and it’s all about a man going through a divorce and then in comes my character in series two – sparks fly perhaps, sure,” the actor, from Kildare, Ireland, said.

Bea said she found the scenes so difficult that she struggled to perform, and feared she would look like a bad kisser.

Bea revealed: “The two of us had one scene where we had to kiss for the first time for as long as Jessica Knappett, who is an amazing actress, came in the back and we’d split our heads apart and Jess would be there.

Aisling Bea struggled to be intimate with her long-time friend (PA Archive)

“It took longer for her to open the door than we thought! I knew I was doing bad kissing.

“When they finally called ‘cut’. I said ‘You’re not going to tell Josh Widdicombe, James Acaster and all the lads about us kissing are you?’”

The Bafta award-winning writer had another obstacle to overcome while filming the series, explaining that she was actually recovering from major surgery at the time of filming.

“I was supposed to have keyhole surgery on my shoulder from an accident two days beforehand but when I went in, they found out my arm was hanging off,” she said

Romesh Ranganathan acting in ‘Avoidance' (BBC / RangaBee Productions / Jack Barnes)

“They had to go in and totally reconstruct my shoulder while I was asleep. I got knocked down off my bike in the pandemic.”

“We were scheduled to film for a week and a half. Out of my head on painkillers. I just remember it as one long day. We had to make my sling part of the character but I really couldn’t move very much.”

The Jonathan Ross Show airs Saturday (13 April) on ITV1 and ITVX, while Avoidance series two is available to view on BBC iPlayer now.