I had to take my top off, it was really hot that day

Poldark star Aidan on scene that got fans sweating

I’ll strip off if it seems right. I have in nearly every job – I insist

AIDAN TURNER ON GOING SHIRTLESS IN POLDARK

POLDARK star Aidan Turner has told how he insisted on stripping off for the sizzling scene that won him an army of admirers – but only because it was such a hot day.

But he hinted he may be flashing more flesh in the new series, due to hit screens next month.

Aidan, 33, said: “It was just really hot that day and it would have been more weird to keep my shirt on. It didn’t feel like a stunt.”

And he admitted he was taken aback by the reaction. He said: “There was mild hysteria about it all – that was quite surprising.”

The actor said he would be happy to bare his body again on screen, but only “if it seems right and not gratuitous”. He joked: “I’ve done it in nearly every job. I insist.”

The BBC One drama, which first aired in 2015, stars Aidan as Captain Ross Poldark, returning to life in Cornwall after fighting for the British in the American Revolutionary War.

The actor, who previously starred in BBC Three vampire show Being Human, said he had sensed Poldark would win viewers’ hearts – but was still bowled over.

He said: “There was quality in it – the actors, the script, the whole team. Then three weeks in, the audience really reacted to it.”

He told the BFI and Radio Times TV festival: “There was something in it that even I hadn’t seen. The reaction was exceptional.”

The third series is dominated by the pregnancy of Ross’s former flame and recent lover Elizabeth, played by Heida Reed, 28. But Aidan revealed that Ross and wife Demelza – 24-year-old Eleanor Tomlinson – will already have put the affair behind them.

He said: “There’s the feel they’ve had the arguments, and the plates have been thrown. It’s the waiting game, to see if he’s the daddy.”

GUNS

The actor admitted he has loved throwing himself into the actionpacked role. He said: “It was a lot of fun, running around in the woods with guns, jumping on boats.

“In the new series Dwight’s ship goes missing off France, so Ross rallies some of his pals. It turns out he’s in prison, so they have to go and bust him out. It’s boys with guns, it’s very exciting.”

Revealing a fourth series will begin filming in September – and series five is being written – he laughed: “I spend more of the year playing Ross than in my own shoes.

“I’ve lived in his boots for so long now – he’s very real for me.”

FLESH AND THRESHING Aidan Turner whips off his shirt to get sweaty out in field as Ross STRIFE Aidan and Eleanor as couple