Saoirse Ronan has said the response to her women's safety remark on The Graham Norton Show has been "wild".

The Irish actress, who is to star in the forthcoming Oscar-nominated film Blitz, appeared on the BBC programme last week alongside Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne and Denzel Washington.

Redmayne explained how he had been taught to use a phone as a weapon while training for the role of an assassin in The Day of the Jackal.

Responding to this, Mescal questioned whether anyone would have enough time to take their phone out while being attacked before Ronan said: "That's what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right ladies?"

Saoirse Ronan says response to women's safety remark on The Graham Norton Show was 'wild'

After receiving much applause from The Graham Norton Show audience, the clip began trending on social media.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ronan admitted to Virgin Radio's Ryan Tubridy that the reaction was "definitely not something that I had expected, and I didn't necessarily set out to sort of make a splash".

The actress said the conversation was a reflection of how society treats women's safety.

She said: "I think there's something really telling about the society that we're in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives."

According to the BBC, the 30-year-old said the conversation "felt very similar to like when I am at dinner with a bunch of my friends and I will always make the point that, well, this is actually an experience that we go through every single day, 100%."

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She said it was "amazing" that this moment is "opening a conversation" and "allowing more women to just be like, well, yeah, actually, let's talk about our experience".

Ronan was praised for highlighting the reality women face every day by writer Olivia Petter.

She said she had helped raise awareness of the "serious, ongoing thoughts women have on an almost daily basis".