Kate Winslet plays the kinky chancellor of a fictional European country in her latest TV show, The Regime, which is available to watch in the UK from April 8

Kate Winslet has revealed scenes in her latest TV show were so bonkers that some of the crew had to be sent out the room.

The 48-year-old, who shot to fame as Rose in Titanic, is no stranger to a sex scene. From car romps with Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 blockbuster and again when they were reunited as a married couple in 2008 flick Revolutionary Road, to lesbian trysts with Saoirse Ronan in 2020 movie Ammonite, it’s not something Kate shies away from if the role requires it.

But in her latest turn in new HBO dark comedy series The Regime, she shared it was hard to keep a straight face while filming certain intimate scenes. Kate plays Elena Vernham, an authoritarian chancellor of a fictional European country. The show, written by Succession creator Will Tracy, also stars Hugh Grant as the leader of the opposition and Matthias Schoenarts, who stars as Kate’s love interest, Corporal Zubak.

The series sees Kate and Matthias’ characters get it on a lot, but it seems some of their intimate moments were too much for some crew members – and they had to be asked to leave the room as they were laughing too much.

Kate Winslet in one of the 'absurd' sex scenes in new TV series The Regime

Speaking at a HBO press conference recently, Kate said: “We did have a couple of moments when things would happen that were so funny that people had to be sent out.” For example, in one scene her character Elena sticks her fingers in Zubak’s mouth – only for him to bite her, leading to a hysterical sex scene.

Kate continued: “When we were shooting Episode 5, Elena and Zubak having sex. And she’s screaming at him, ‘No biting! No biting!’ two people had to be sent out for laughing.” Unfortunately, the crew members who left were crucial to the scene as one was a make-up artists and the other a cinematographer. “Matthias had all these fake tattoos. He was getting sweatier and sweatier and they just kept sort of rubbing off on parts of my body. I was like, ‘This is really like I’ve got the newspaper printed on me.,'” Kate explained.

Reflecting on the role as a “breath of fresh air” to play in light of more serious roles she has undertaken, Kate also told The Times : “To be honest, Matthias and I know each other, so we have a shorthand and a trust that we’ve had for over a decade… it’s satire. Nothing makes sense and it’s so absurd. All you can do is laugh your head off.”

But though they are comfortable with each other, having worked together on period drama A Little Chaos directed by the late Alan Rickman in 2014, it didn’t stop Matthias giving it his all in the upcoming scenes, where Elena and Zubak’s passion tips over the edge into anger – or when he clashes with High Grant’s character. Explaining his method, he said: “You don’t want to break any bones, but at the same time you want to scare the s*** out of your fellow actors and make them think you can kill them.”