True Blood star Anna Paquin reveals it was her bare breasts that accidentally appeared on BBC News at Ten

True Blood star Anna Paquin has revealed it was her bare breasts that were accidentally broadcast live during the BBC’s News at Ten.

An employee was watching a saucy clip from the HBO series True Blood on a computer screen in full view of the camera while Sophie Raworth read the headlines to 3.8 million people on Monday night.

The 49-year-old anchor remained oblivious as the footage, which showed a woman strip-off to reveal her naked chest, played behind her.

Canadian-born New Zealand actress Ms Paquin, 35, has since revealed it was her in the clip, which was from an episode of True Blood, and she seemed to see the funny side.

On Friday night, she tweeted: “My breasts! So funny on so many levels.”

The True Blood footage that was inadvertently broadcast was from a sex scene between Ms Paquin and her co-star Robert Kazinsky.

In a further series of tweets, Ms Paquin added: “Ya know you’ve made when… your t*** photobomb the News at Ten.

“Now that I know what you guys were talking about, this some of the funniest s*** I’ve seen in a while.

“Thanks for the giggle. #FreeTheNipple.”

When someone told her that the BBC were “looking into the matter”, she replied: “What’s there to look into, my t*** photo bombed the news because someone was watching True Blood in view of camera.”

On Tuesday, a source at the BBC told the Sun: “This has gone down like a lead balloon at the BBC. It is totally unprofessional.”

A spokeswoman for the BBC said: “We are establishing the facts and circumstances.”