Dame Helen Mirren has admitted that she regrets participating in nude movie scenes earlier in her career.

Mirren claims that these scenes have given her an undeserved reputation, and said that she was never fully comfortable with the nudity.

"I might seem uninhibited but believe me, I'm not. I've always had a problem doing nudity. In fact, I hated it. It has never been a comfortable thing. I've never enjoyed it. It's always mortifying."

She went on to give her reasons for it: "I did those scenes because I didn't want to be uptight. Now I have got stuck in a way with a reputation for doing nude scenes."