For our April cover story [Issue 16], Elizabeth Aubrey caught up with actor Aidan Turner to discuss becoming a household name with BBC’s revival of Poldark, his current life on stage at the National Theatre,and his everlasting love for the theatre – check it out the exclusive excerpt below
- READ MORE: Aidan Turner discusses being on stage at the National Theatre in our exclusive April cover story.
It was of course his titular role in the BBC’s revival of Poldark that turned him into a household name. The show was watched by over eight million people weekly in its first season and earned him British period drama heartthrob status on levels only previously matched by Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy.
“I still have a lot of fond memories of that show; I’m really proud of it.” He says he had no idea the show would become as huge as it did.
“It certainly surprised me, the success of the show,” Turner reflects now. “We knew we were doing something that felt good. I felt the writing was always strong and aesthetically it looked great. But I was quite surprised when the first episode came out and we just got these huge ratings and then I thought very quickly that this may go on for some time.”
After drama school, he worked tirelessly on both stage and screen, “I guess like every other actor auditioning for things and, you know, getting some things, not getting other things,” he explains, “to suddenly being in a really big hit show.” Poldark ran for five years and gave Turner stability in his work, something that he’d not previously had.
“The next five years of my life [were] carved out essentially and it sort of changes you a bit. I could choose to work for the rest of the year or take it off – it was this weird, strange certainty that I suddenly had as an actor going ‘God, I probably don’t need to worry about working for the next while because the job was there.’”
He also wasn’t used to the attention the show brought him. Even now, ten years after it first aired, thirsty fans still pour over a viral scene in the show where he’s shirtless in a field. He tries to not let it bother him. “I don’t have social media; I’ve never done any of that,” he laughs.
“I’m not reminded every day of who’s taking the picture or what people are saying. I’ve never been plugged in, in that way. I think in this business it could become troublesome and tricky for me – I’ve always just steered clear of it, so it doesn’t really bother me.
“It’s not very comfortable to have people right outside your front door when you walk out in the morning,” he admits. “But thankfully that’s quite rare. I just don’t let it affect me because I don’t have the bandwidth. I’m just too busy. I have a family, work, other things I really want to put my time into. I think just trying to figure out what the world thinks about me is not something I care about.”
Read the full interview, including talk about Disney+ Rivals season 2, and see the whole shoot in Something About Rocks issue 16, available now.
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