Olivia Colman thinks "people are too nervous" about gender and sexuality.

The 52-year-old actress appears in Sophie Hyde's new queer drama Jimpa - which explores ideas of queerness and parenthood between members of the LGBTQ+ community across generations - and she hopes the film can make the topic more "mainstream" and accepted.

She told Variety: "There's an awful lot of mistrust and hatred about things that there is no need to be hateful about.

"I love the fact that this film is about learning how to listen to each other without throwing the toys out the crib.

"I don't understand how you can get so upset about it when someone is different… It would be great if films about queer stories were mainstream.

"It would be wonderful. I don't know why it's not, but I think people are too nervous."

Meanwhile, co-producer and director Sophie pointed to the success of shows like Heated Rivalry as prove the public is "craving" queer stories.

She added: "We lost so many queer characters from the TV screens. We didn't see many queer stories told publicly. We certainly saw fewer queer directors working.

"And then up pops Heated Rivalry out of nowhere, a tiny Canadian gay streaming romance and everyone just loves it. Clearly, we are craving these stories."

Jimpa stars John Lithgow as Jim, who calls himself Jimpa rather than grandpa, and left his family "to pursue a free, gay life in Amsterdam".

His daughter Hannah (Colman), her non-binary teen Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) and her husband (played by Daniel Henshall) visit Jimpa, where he encourages the teenager to explore the city's queer culture.

There, she meets characters played by the likes of Zoe Love Smith, Hans Kesting and Romana Vrede.

Meanwhile Olivia recently admitted she feels like she is non-binary, and has never been comfortable with traditional gender roles, while she describes herself as a "gay man" to her husband of 25 years Ed Sinclair.

She told Them: "Throughout my whole life, I've had arguments with people where I've always sort of felt non-binary.

"I've never felt massively feminine in my being female. I've always described myself to my husband as a gay man.

"And he goes, 'Yeah I get that'. And I do feel so at home and at ease."