Grantchester actress Morven Christie has told how middle-aged women “develop an immediate hatred” for her when she posts images on social media of her handsome co-stars.

The Scottish star, 35, accused female social media users of being “creepy” online.

Morven described the response she elicited when she showed off a snap of her Grantchester co-star James Norton, 31.

James Norton
James Norton (Ian West/PA)

The War And Peace actor stars as vicar Sidney Chambers, an unlikely crime fighter, in the TV series, while Morven plays his forbidden lover Amanda.

Morven told Radio Times that she was only trolled when she had worked “with quite well-known men, who middle-aged women really fancy”.

“They develop an immediate hatred for you and your character,” she said.

Talking about working with James, she said: “It’s amazing. We were on set on Grantchester, and James was talking about selfies.

James Norton in Grantchester
James Norton in Grantchester (ITV)

“I put a picture of him on Instagram, and the comments underneath… ‘Oh, what lovely long fingers he’s got’. ‘Why are you photographing him, you harridan?’ That’s the amazing thing about social media, the creepiness of women.”

Morven said she could not believe the mean comments made by mothers when she played the parent of a boy with autism in BBC1 series The A Word.

“One of the things that shocked me, when I was playing Alison… was the judgment of mothers on other mothers,” she said.

The Lost In Austen actress, who is set to star opposite Vicky McClure in The Replacement, about working women and motherhood, added: “It’s so under-the-skin nasty.

The Replacement (BBC/Left Bank)
The Replacement (BBC/Left Bank)

“I think it comes from the fact that there’s maybe nothing quite like motherhood to make a woman feel that she’s failing. If you can pass judgment on somebody else, you can make yourself feel a bit better for a brief moment in time.”

She criticised the media’s constant focus on whether women have children, saying: “Having a baby is a wonderful thing, but whether or not we have children in the future is nobody else’s business…

“Everybody needs to find a box to put you in, but that need to find out what your future is doesn’t exist in the same way with men.”