The Walking Dead’s Samantha Morton was branded ‘difficult’ for refusing to perform explicit oral sex scenes aged 16

SAMANTHA Morton has opened up about the pressures she faced to perform in explicit scenes as teenage actress.

The British star, best known in recent years for playing The Whisperer leader Alpha on The Walking Dead, spoke at Comic Con this weekend about her journey into showbiz.

Samantha, who is set to star in upcoming BBC drama Harlots, recounted feeling "very vulnerable" on set at the start of her career.

She was even left "sobbing in [her] trailer" because of the expectation to perform graphic scenes at such an early age.

She explained: "The really lovely wardrobe girls would say, 'Listen if you just put corn plasters on your nipples, then you won’t have to show your boobs.'"

Referring to her role on drama Band of Gold, she continued: "I was just 16 and some of the scenes Tracey had to do…the writing was brilliant but quite vague."

She went on: "It would say, 'Tracy was giving a blowjob' or 'Tracy is doing this', and now I’m a director in my own right, I know that when I approach directing you don’t always have to see everything. There are ways to do it."

Samantha claimed her reluctance to perform in these scenes soon got her a reputation for being difficult to work with.

"These were the days when people were smoking on set and just a different world and I was very vulnerable," she added.

"I got a reputation quite quickly for being a bit tricky because I came from Nottingham, I came from a bit of a rough background, and the only way I felt that I could hold my own was by being a bit tough back try and find some toughness that I didn’t have."

However, Samnatha did say that she had seen a lot of positive change over the course of her career.

She noted: "I think the industry is changing for the better. No one was mean on purpose, that’s just how it was.

"You have to toughen up even though you might not have wanted to do that, but you want to act."

She also urged actors to make their boundaries clear and turn down anything outside of their comfort zone.

"No one told me I could say no, because once I said no then I was difficult. Saying no to something you’re uncomfortable with is okay, because there’s a way to work out ways to do it where everyone is happy," she concluded.

The comments come after The Walking Dead bosses lifted the lid on how new spin-off show World Beyond would overlap with the main series.

Elsewhere, Samantha spoke about getting in "big trouble" for shaving her head and eyebrows to play Alpha.

The Walking Dead season 10 is set to conclude later this year.