Exclusive – Channel 5's Anne Boleyn to feature "talking point" kiss scene between Anne and rival Jane Seymour

The drama is set to re-examine the life of King Henry VIII's most famous wife, the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, through a feminist lens.

Petticrew, who plays Anne's love rival Jane Seymour in the Anne Boleyn cast, spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the significance of the scene within the feminist retelling.

"It's definitely something that I think will be a talking point for a lot of people," she says. "Very simply, it was Anne assessing what was before her, and her sort of interest in [Jane]. Sometimes Anne sees Jane through the male gaze and she's trying to see what her husband [King Henry VIII] sees, which I think is really interesting, because it's the male gaze through a female gaze, which I think is really beautiful."

What are the two women's motivations in this scene? "I think that on Anne's side, she is looking at Jane. And she has been looking at Jane for a while. She's trying to see what her husband sees, she's trying to see what the appeal is, and then assess what the actual threat is," Petticrew explains.

"It's so smart. At this point I think we still underestimate Jane a little bit. And I think that Jane is thrown off a little bit, [because] at the end of the day, this is her queen. And there's a lot of danger there. But I think that she respects Anne.

"I think that these two women see each other. And they understand the position that they're both in, which is actually something that we talked about a lot. It was two women that ultimately understood it had to be one of them."

She adds that an intimacy coordinator helped her and Turner-Smith rehearse the kiss scene, filmed in the grounds of Castle Howard in North Yorkshire.

"That [authenticity] all comes through chatting. We also were very lucky, we have an amazing intimacy coordinator. And whether it was kissing or nudity, it was always chatted through, moment to moment," she says, adding that she felt "very safe".

"I had a chat with Ita [O'Brien, the intimacy coordinator] and Jodie had a chat with Ita. Then we talked to Lynsey [Miller, the director] and just tried to suss out what it was we were trying to get from the scene. And yeah, it felt very safe and definitely, you know, necessary."

Thalissa Teixeira, who plays Henry's mistress Madge Shelton in the TV series, adds that the kiss scene between Jane and Anne is "also a threat" from the latter.

"She kisses Jane Seymour in an act of jealousy. But also potency, and also a threat, which I think is done in many different ways in modern life. Maybe you wouldn't kiss someone in the pub, if they're suspected to be going out with your boyfriend, but it's done in other ways, I'm sure," she exclusively tells RadioTimes.com.

Anne Boleyn is set to air at 9pm on the 1^st June on Channel 5. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide. Visit our Drama hub for all the latest news.