Anya Taylor-Joy has been overwhelmed by the popularity of 'The Queen's Gambit'

Anya recalled: "After quarantining I was still very jet-lagged so went for a walk at four in the morning and ended up on Sunset Boulevard and there was a giant billboard of my face.

"I have never experienced that before in my life and promptly turned around and walked away because it was too much."

Anya explained that her character's "passion" for chess has helped make the 1960s set series so successful.

Speaking during an appearance on tonight's (08.01.21) episode of 'The Graham Norton Show', she said: "I think it is a few different things. It is a story of redemption and it's nice to know you can overcome your demons in that way, but also passion is just exciting.

"When you see how passionate she is about chess it just draws you in. And it's really pretty to look at."

The 'Emma' star also told her fellow guest - former 'Great British Bake Off' host Mel Giedroyc - that she had watched episodes of the hit baking show during the "intense experience" of playing Beth.

Anya said: "Being in Beth's headspace the whole time was quite an intense experience and I had never seen 'Bake Off' before, so I clung to it for the whole time – I watched it from the very beginning, so you were right there with me the whole time."

The 'Witch' star previously revealed she learned to speak English when she moved to the UK from Argentina at the age of six thanks to J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' novels.

She said: “"I wanted to go home, and in my six, seven-year-old mentality I thought my parents would have to take me back if I didn’t speak the language.

"My uncle would sit me down with the Harry Potter books, so all my language when I was young was quite precocious because I was learning from these books."

She then jokingly added: "I was very well versed in spells from a very young age."