Amanda Holden says Britain is ‘going backwards’ with its perceptions of sex as she reveals the VERY unglamorous location where she filmed a sexy toga scene for her racy new Sky show

Amanda Holden has said she thinks Britain is going backwards rather than forwards when it comes to the perception of sex.

The presenter, 52, is co-fronting a brand new Sky History show called Sex: A Bonkers History with historian Dan Jones.

The pair will explore how attitudes to sex and sexuality have evolved from the origins of the first contraceptive in ancient Egypt to suburban swing in Britain in the 1970s.

In a question and answer session at a screening ahead of the show’s launch, Amanda said she felt like there used to be “more freedoms and less judgement.”

She said that despite society thinking we have come a long way, people are still “afraid to talk about many things.”

She explained, “Personally, I feel like even though we think we’re moving forward, I feel like we’re going backwards.

“I think when people say it’s starting conversations, it’s actually shutting them down because I think a lot of people are afraid to talk about every aspect of everything.”

Amanda continued, “There is so much to celebrate right now, so much. And yet, when you look back, you see that obviously there’s all the politics, everything else in all the other eras that we didn’t talk about.

‘But I think there were a lot more freedoms and less judgment then than there are now. This is just a wheel that keeps turning.

“I think the biggest lesson we’ve learned from this is that we’re just on the same wheel and we’re going to go to the next bit, and then to the next bit.

“So every time we think we’ve moved forward, we’re always going to take a step back, and that’s true of absolutely every era we’ve covered.”

Discussing the show, Amanda revealed she was so dedicated that she tried on a toga during one of the coldest months of the year.

She recalled: ‘I really enjoyed learning about the Spartans in person and the crazy outfits…at Crystal Palace.

‘They told me it would be somewhere much more exotic. One of the main reasons I took the gig was because they took me to Crystal Palace!’

She complained, “It was November that I put on that gown! From ASOS!’

It comes after her co-host Dan told Televisual about the variety of topics covered on the show.

He said: ‘Sex is the one thing we know for certain that people have done throughout history.

‘It’s a fascinating way to romp through the millennia, from the ancient Egyptians to swingers in the 1970s, and to the wonders of the digital age we live in today.’

He even spoke highly of his co-host: ‘Amanda is a dream presenter – she has a great laugh.’

Amanda added: ‘Believe me when I say that our generation knows nothing about sex compared to the licentious antics of our ancestors!

‘My goodness, I really opened my eyes and laughed while filming this brilliant new series.

‘I left it to Dan Jones to get his hands dirty while I stood on the sidelines as a highly entertained voyeur.

‘While it can be shocking at times, Sex: A Bonkers History is a truly fascinating and intellectual insight into the last 2,500 years of our sexual history. These are terrible stories for adults.’

The series uses archive footage and drama reconstructions, with Amanda and Dan taking the lead roles to shed light on history’s most unknown sex stories.

Along the way, they will discover how the sexual desires of the Tudors changed the course of British history forever, and they will delve into Georgian Britain to discover that the neat facade couldn’t be further from the truth.

The pair also reveal how the Victorian era was secretly one of the most sexually progressive in the world.

Finally, they find that sexual attitudes have changed more in the twentieth century than in any other period in history, and that this pace of change only continues to accelerate.

Viewers can also listen to sex experts such as Dr Kate Lister, author of A Curious History of Sex and the late director of Ann Summers, Jacqueline Gold.

Sex: A Bonkers History starts on Monday September 18 at 9pm on Sky History.