Keira Knightley and Naomie Harris lead actresses demanding end to workplace bullying

Keira Knightley and Naomie Harris are leading calls for a crackdown on bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace.

The open letter calls for funding of a new watchdog called the Creative Industry Independent Standards Authority (Ciisa) which would investigate complaints within the creative industries.

Other A-List stars including Carey Mulligan, Rebecca Ferguson and Emerald Fennell added their name to the letter, which states, "We are calling on you to make your final commitment to the creation of Ciisa... to keep our creative industries safe.

"So many of us in this industry would have loved to have an objective outside body that we could go to for advice, for mediation and in the very extreme circumstances, that we might need some outside body to hold people accountable for the bad behaviour or bad practices that sometimes happen on our sets, on our stages, behind the scenes."

The BBC reports that they and fellow broadcasters including Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and Viacom have already made an "initial payment" to Ciisa.

The new watchdog is in response to the #MeToo movement which shone a spotlight on the abusive actions of various high-profile individuals in the worlds of TV, film, theatre and music.

The proposed organisation plans to begin providing some services by the end of the year and is currently finalising business and funding plans.

The company is being led by an interim team which includes Dame Heather Rabbatts who is acting as the Chair of CIISA, while Jen Smith is Interim CEO who, the organisation's website states, is "responsible for developing its remit, operating model and governance structure".