Conversations With Friends star on Taylor Swift's reaction

Conversations With Friends will follow in the footsteps of its Sally Rooney adaptation predecessor, Normal People, by featuring some rather passionate and intimate sex scenes.

Many of these scenes feature actor Joe Alwyn, who plays Nick in the new drama series – a married man who becomes embroiled in a secret fling with student Frances.

Actress Alison Oliver, who plays Frances, has now opened up to The Times about how Alwyn's famous girlfriend, singer Taylor Swift, reacted to his participation in the scenes, revealing that she wasn't too bothered by them.

Hulu/BBC

Related: Is Conversations With Friends connected to Normal People?

Emphasising that the sex scenes are "all part of the story", Oliver said that the 'Shake It Off' singer was "totally cool" with Alwyn's passionate scenes.

The actress, whose Conversations With Friends role is her first big acting job after finishing drama school, added that she did find it surreal to be filming with Alwyn and to see Swift visit the set, as she used to play the singer's songs on her guitar when she was growing up.

Oliver also explained that Swift understands that filming sex scenes is all "part of Joe's job, all part of the story".

Swift and Alwyn have been a couple since meeting at the 2016 Met Gala, but have primarily kept their love life out of the spotlight.

Frazer Harrison

Related: Normal People director on possibility of Connell and Marianne cameo in Conversations with Friends

Oliver also spoke about how much she learned while filming her first love scenes, comparing the intimacy co-ordinators who worked on the set to "magicians".

"They give you intimacy garments, like skin-coloured knickers, and you can ask for pads and stuff to protect you and create distance between the other person," she said. "It's approached like a stunt – you are creating an illusion. The director, Lenny Abrahamson, let us be silly. He would say, 'Let's get the giggles out.'"

Alwyn himself has previously revealed how he felt filming those close-contact scenes for the BBC drama series, calling them "essentially choreographed" and "quite mechanical".

Conversations with Friends will premiere on May 15, 2022, airing on BBC Three in the UK and Hulu in the US. Normal People is available to stream on BBC iPlayer in the UK, Hulu in the US, or to download and keep.

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Faber & Faber £8.36

Normal People [DVD] [2020]

Element Pictures amazon.co.uk

£19.99

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Faber & Faber £8.36

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Faber & Faber bookshop.org

Normal People: The Scripts

Faber & Faber £18.60

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io