How a freak wave almost sank Poldark
TO his legions of women fans, Poldark star Aidan Turner can do no wrong as the hero who rescues damsels in distress in the BBC drama.
But you can always rely on Mother Nature to put things in perspective.
The TV heartthrob has revealed that he dropped co-star Eleanor Tomlinson into the freezing sea during filming after a freak wave slammed a boat into his head.
Ms Tomlinson, who plays Poldark’s wife Demelza, was wet but unhurt in the incident off the Cornish coast.
Speaking as the hit drama returns to the small screen for its second series, Irish-born Turner, 33, told Radio Times magazine: “There’s nothing like the Cornish sea at the height of winter for putting you in your place.
“We were filming me lifting Demelza out of a boat when this huge wave picked up the boat and slammed it into my head.
Cracked
“I dropped her in the water – not very Ross Poldark,” he said of his romantic hero alter-ego.
“And nobody was coming to see if I’m OK. I was the man injured.”
Turner was not the only member of the cast and crew who was hurt in the incident.
“One of the underwater cameramen got cracked as well and he was concussed.
“These waves, you wouldn’t think there’s anything to them, but once you get out there you’re at the mercy of Mother Nature,” he said. “And she doesn’t care how well the previous season rated.”
Poldark returns on Sunday night at 9pm when it goes head to head with Victoria, ITV’s rival period drama starring former Doctor Who actress Jenna Coleman.
The finale of Poldark’s first series last year saw the protagonist arrested for murder and plundering a shipwreck, and Demelza left alone on the Cornish cliff-top. In the new series our hero faces capital crimes while he and Demelza are still dealing with the death of their daughter, Julia.
Turner told the magazine: “You’d think at the end of season one that it can’t get any worse for these guys.
“Ross’s company’s bankrupt, they’re completely broke and they’ve just lost their child.
“But it just slowly does get worse. There’s prison, all sorts.
“But Ross is more comfortable when he doesn’t share with anybody, he just takes the burden.”
Turner said that despite filming in the heart of winter on freezing Cornish beaches, he tried to keep a smile on his face. “The lead actors on any show end up setting the energy level,” he said. “And if somebody is grumpy, it’s hard to get the crew going. So no matter how cold it is, you just have to man up and get on with it.”
Turner, whose smouldering good looks and shirtless scything in the first series turned him into a sex symbol, has some bad news for his fans.
“The chances of me getting my shirt off outdoors in season two are zero. It was bloody freezing during filming.”
The good news for some, however, is that indoors he goes shirtless twice in the first episode.