Rula Lenska’s answer to sex pests? Knee ’em

RuLA LenSkA, former wife of Minder star Dennis Waterman, is the latest actress to reveal she was sexually harassed by film producers in her early career.

‘There were a few times when I was younger, in my early 20s, when there were suggestions made,’ she says.

‘I had no qualms whatsoever of either whacking somebody across the face or kneeing them if they came too close. If they were being lewd, I would have absolutely no qualms about hitting them.’

The Polish countess, 70, who found fame in Seventies TV show Rock Follies and later eastenders, divorced Waterman in 1998 after ten years amid accusations of his violence and heavy drinking.

‘The couple of times it happened to me I was going to film auditions, being asked to remove articles of clothing quite unnecessarily,’ Rula recalls.

‘I can’t say what films they were, because some of the people might still be around and alive. Who knows if my career would have been different if I’d gone down that road?’