49
August 2019 | REDONLINE.CO.UKRED MAN
l
ast summer, as the
fourth series of
Poldark unravelled
on TV, Aidan Turner
starred in a West End
play. He’d always
admired the director
Michael Grandage’s
work and leapt at his
offer of the lead role
in The Lieutenant
Of Inishmore, a
subversive comedy
about an Irish terrorist seeking revenge for the
killing of his cat. The part of a man deemed too
dangerous for the IRA was a far cry from the
beloved hero Turner has brought to life in the
BBC’s prime-time juggernaut, so you can imagine
his surprise when, on opening night, a hoard of
Poldark fans turned up at the stage door. While
some had come bearing gifts for Turner’s dressing
room, others had bought tickets for the play. ‘So that
was quite sweet...’ Turner says, as I speak to him
in a hotel just off London’s Trafalgar Square.
The show was a hit with the critics, but did the
Poldarkers enjoy it? ‘They seemed to,’ Turner nods.
And did they behave? ‘I... er... ha!’ He’s chuckling,
but looks like he wants the ground to swallow him
up. ‘There were a couple of moments, shall we say.’
What sort of moments? ‘Ah... someone shouted
from the audience. Someone whistled
when I came on stage. It was funny.
People laughed. But I was also
thinking, “God, if this happens every
night, it’s going to ruin the play.”’
Today, Turner, who hails from
Dublin, is here to promote the final
series of Poldark, which returns to our
screens this month. And although he’s
charming and polite, it’s clear that
talking about his unwavering popularity with
female television viewers is not his forte.
He currently has a thick beard, which I suggest
is possibly a ploy to distract from his startlingly
good looks. ‘Like a disguise?’ he laughs. ‘In truth,
I just really hate shaving.’ He’s dressed all in
dark colours, too: navy T-shirt, black jeans and
Nike high-tops. He looks athletic, but not toned to
within an inch of his life like his ripped alter ego,
Ross Poldark, which is sort of refreshing.
He admits that he was nervous about taking
on the role that has made him the face of Sunday
nights. ‘It was a bit like, “Jesus, I hope I’m gonna
pull this off.” Because if you’re anyone else in the
show you can get away with it. If you’re Poldark
and the ship goes down, it’s kind of your fault.’ He
remembers that, in some ways, the stakes seemed
even higher, because he was offered the job
without having to do any sort of audition. ‘You’re
walking in on the first day, thinking, “Even if I’m
crap, it’s probably too late for them to fire me.”’
At that point, Turner’s biggest claim to fame was
playing a recurring but small role in The Hobbit
movies. He’d previously worked for the BBC, as
one of three leads in the teen drama series Being
Human (alongside Russell Tovey), but he was hardly
setting the world alight: ‘No. I mean, The Hobbit
was great, they were big films, but I just wasn’t
getting to act an awful lot. When Poldark came
along, it seemed like the perfect job,’ he says.
When the show made its debut in 2015, Turner’s
profile shot through the roof. By episode three, his
face and torso were splashed across every red top.
This was due to what is now widely regarded as
the show’s much-discussed scything scene –
a brief blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that saw
Ross Poldark perform manual labour in a field
with his top off. Depending on whom you ask,
it was either a sublimely thrilling or wildly
insignificant moment of TV; nevertheless, it set
off a debate about gender politics and
objectification. At that time, Turner
seemed troubled by the attention
and did his best to avoid the topic in
interviews. ‘I found the whole thing
difficult to speak about,’ he recalls.
‘I felt like whatever I said, it would
add oxygen to the fire. Also, I think
a lot of people wanted me to feel
something I wasn’t necessarily
feeling.’ That he was being objectified? ‘Yeah.
It was as though they wanted me to draw
parallels with a woman doing that scene. The
thing is, as a man, I can walk down the street
and feel safe. I’ve never felt threatened in my
life. And I realise it’s quite different for a
woman in a similar situation, who might be
followed by three men wanting an autograph.’
In reality, the semi-naked scything scene was
Turner’s idea. The day it was filmed was ‘scorchingHE WON THE HEARTS OF A NATION AS THE SCAR-FACED, SKINNY-DIPPING,
SCYTHE-WIELDING ROSS POLDARK. BUT AS AIDAN TURNER RETURNS FOR THE
SHOW’S FINAL ACT, MEGAN CONNER ASKS: WHAT NOW?‘POLDARK
SEEMED
LIKE THE
PERFECT JOB’