United Kingdom, May 11 -- Steve Coogan believes Helena Bonham Carter's exit from The White Lotus was a "mutual decision".

The Philomena star is part of the line-up for the star-studded season four of Mike White's hit TV series, but the cast was dealt a major blow when Helena walked away from the shoot after the cameras started rolling - and Coogan has now explained why the actress bowed out.

Speaking to Deadline.com at the BAFTA TV Awards in London, Coogan said: "It just went in a different direction. It was like, sometimes you find that something isn't working the way you want it to, in terms of, like, the character and the dynamic of the whole story ...

"So that was just a mutual decision . The whole part was rewritten from scratch."...