Mori hated nude scenes in ‘Lennon Naked’

By Ian Cullen Jun 16, 2010, 4:28 GMT

Former "Torchwood" star Naoko Mori will soon be seen in a new television drama for BBC Four in which she played Yoko Ono to Christopher Eccleston’s John Lennon, in the much ballyhooed one shot drama, ‘Lennon Naked.’

Former "Torchwood" star Naoko Mori will soon be seen in a new television drama for BBC Four in which she played Yoko Ono to Christopher Eccleston’s John Lennon, in the much ballyhooed one shot drama, ‘Lennon Naked.’

The drama charts the demise of Lennon's marriage to wife Cynthia, his bonding with Yoko Ono, and his difficult relationships with son Julian and absentee father Alfred – a merchant seaman played by Christopher Fairbank who is better known to television viewers as Albert Moxey from the hit series ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.’

In recent interviews with the Daily Record Newspaper both Mori talked about the drama. 

Mori touched on her personal discomfort with the scenes, which deal with John Lennon and Ono's famous naked photo shoot. When Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in bed to protest the war and various other issues involving the establishment back then.

"It was a hideous experience," said Mori. "That was actually one of the biggest challenges and obstacles for me. I swore I'd never do on-screen nudity. People don't want to see me naked - their eyeballs will explode. I couldn't pay people to look at me with my clothes off."

"I have serious issues about taking my clothes off in front of a room full of strangers. Especially as it's filmed in high definition. I actually thought about those scenes for two weeks."

Her co - star Christopher Eccleston had no worries about the scenes. As Mori went onto explain.

"We talked about how to do it," she said. "I asked him if he wanted to do a private show. But he didn't. He just wanted to do it, get into the moment, and do it. He said you don't really remember things - it's all such a whirl anyway. But I did have a tequila at eight in the morning on an empty stomach just to get me through it."

'Lennon Naked' is scheduled to air later this month on BBC Four.