SINCE HIS appearance as Poldark began setting the nation’s heart aflutter, Aidan Turner has made a few admissions about his appearance.

First, he confessed to spending weeks in the gym to develop that highly-toned physique.

Then came the revelation that his torso is enhanced for the cameras by the application of baby oil, and his smouldering gaze by the addition of eyeliner.

However, he has yet to mention one important aspect of his grooming regime: the taming of his chest hair.

Pictures from the archives show that Turner is far more hirsute than his latest role suggests.

It appears that producers of the BBC period drama encouraged the 31-year-old actor to trim his chest hair in order to become more appealing to the female audience.

The advice certainly worked. The recent #AskPoldark session on social media, in which viewers were invited to ask Turner questions about his role, included: “Would you object to me smothering your

Aidan Turner as Poldark (top) and in his more hirsute days

chest in peanut butter and licking it off?” and even a poem: “Smouldering looks and manly chest, you’ve put the meaning into Sunday Best.” Lee Kynaston, a male grooming expert, said: “Would they have had ‘manscaping’ in the days of Poldark? I think not. But clearly this has been done to show off the musculature underneath.

“There’s no point working really hard in the gym to develop great abs and pecs if you’re then going to put them under a rug. But the makers of the show wanted the best of both worlds – he looks buffed, but there’s still a bit of chest hair on show.

“The reason why the photos of a shirtless Aidan Turner created so much interest is that we’re so used to seeing waxed, hairless chests on TV.”

He continued: “That look has been around for 10 years and I can see a real backlash against the manscaping trend now.

“Maybe this is the start of a more hirsute future?”

An image of a shirtless Turner on the Poldark set, scythe in hand, led the BBC to publish an article on its website asking if Britain is about to witness “a surge in scything”.

Simon Damant, the joint national scything champion, admitted to “the odd bit of topless scything”, but said he always put his shirt back on to prevent sunburn.