Geoffrey Rush has headed into court as part of his defamation trial against The Daily Telegraph.

Rush is suing both The Daily Telegraph publisher Nationwide News and journalist Jonathon Moran for defamation after the paper ran articles claiming Rush had harassed a female co-star.

The actor announced his intention to sue The Tele in December last year.

In late November of last year, The Tele published a cover page story under the headline “King Leer” that Rush had acted inappropriately during the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of King Learwhich ran from November 2015 to January 2016.

It’s believed that the Sydney Theatre Company had received a complaint from an unnamed person who worked on the production relating to inappropriate touching.

Since the news broke, The Telegraph had covered the story in print nine times. Melbourne’s Herald Sun has only run the story in its print edition twice.

Rush was handed a win in the trial in March when he was successful in his attempt to have parts of the Daily Telegraph’s defence case struck out ahead of the pending trial of his defamation case against the News Corp publication.

B&T has contacted News Corp for comment.