Anderson regrets X-Files years

Actress Gillian Anderson regrets spending nine years in popular TV series The X-files, admitting it was the money that kept her going.

The star says she "had no choice" but to sign for a long stint on the show, although she has agreed to reprise the role of Agent Dana Scully in the sequel of the film adaptation of the sci-fi series.

She says: "I couldn't get out of it. I didn't have a choice. Back then I was all innocent and I thought, 'Wow! This sounds wonderful' but then when I started, I realised I'd be in a Canadian wood working 16 hours a day for nine months a year.

"And the reason I stayed so long was because the only way I could get more money was to commit myself to doing it for another couple of years."

Anderson compares the on-set atmosphere as a "disgusting microcosm", adding: "To begin with it was alright, but gradually it all became incredibly gossipy and incestuous."