Aidan Turner

3-Aidan-TurnerThe period drama Poldark tells the story of a heroic British soldier who returns to his native Cornwall after fighting in the American War of Independence to find his father has died, his land is ruined and his betrothed is about to marry his cousin. Based on novels by Winston Graham, Poldark was originally adapted for television in the ’70s. Recently Mammoth Screen, which is owned by ITV, made a new version starring Aidan Turner as Captain Ross Poldark. It has broken ratings records on BBC One and garnered critical acclaim. Turner talks about playing this flawed hero whose strong moral compass leads him to do anything for his townspeople and for the woman he loves.

TV DRAMA: Did it weigh on you to be reprising a character that was so beloved?
TURNER: It didn’t really. You need to take responsibility for the role and know it’s quite a coveted one. You want to nail it and get it right. I’m aware that the first series was a big hit, but that’s kind of where it ends. After that you take the books and Debbie [Horsfield]’s scripts, and you work on it and then just go for it. Whatever research and work you’ve done prior to shooting is what’s going to be [on screen]. It’s quite unhelpful to be on set and feel the weight of it and think, Are we getting this right? What did Robin Ellis [who played Poldark in the original series] do and did he do it better? I haven’t seen the ’70s version of the show and I don’t plan to before I’m finished with Poldark. I wanted to make Ross mine and for me, garnering ownership over the role was about believing in myself and ridding myself of any self-doubt before the shoot.

TV DRAMA: What appealed to you about Ross Poldark? He’s a complex fellow, with a strong moral compass, but he’s also impulsive.
TURNER: Yes, he’s temperamental. He’s not good at delegating any work to anyone else. He’s a very proud guy and he wants the weight of the world on his shoulders. I think that’s when he feels the most comfortable. He needs to be in control all the time. Not just because he solely trusts himself, but also if anything does go wrong he wants to bear the responsibility. I don’t think he likes other people to feel like they’ve been let down. He felt real to me from the very first read. There’s a lot going on with this guy, and every emotion he’s feeling I can recognize and seems to fit with what’s happening in the story. I don’t need to throw myself very much into that time of 1783 and imagine what’s going on culturally, historically, politically in the country. I can just tune into what this guy is saying, what people are saying to him, his relationships with other people, and through that figure out emotionally where he’s at. That seemed to happen all the way through reading the first couple of episodes. I related to him straightaway. He seemed like a modern man, but I don’t mean modern as in contemporary; there’s something about him that’s moving with the times.

TV DRAMA: What do you like about Ross?
TURNER: He’s real for me. He’s heavily flawed. That’s what I loved so much about the first [season], people saying, He’s this great upstanding moral character and he’s the people’s hero. He is all of those things, but he’s a man as well. He makes some fundamental mistakes. Emotionally he’s not adept at all. He can never really read Demelza [his wife]. He’s not great at figuring out what she feels. He has trouble figuring out what he’s done wrong. He’s a proud guy too, so [he doesn’t always say] What did I do? But he is thinking, Could I have caused this? He bypasses his emotional highway all the time. He’s way more comfortable on a battlefield screaming orders at soldiers or down in a mine figuring out which vein of copper they’re going to blow up with gunpowder than he is sitting down and telling Demelza how proud he is that they’ve had a baby girl or how much in love with her he is.

TV DRAMA: What can you tell us about season two?
TURNER: [At the end of season one] Ross gets arrested for inciting a riot and for the murder of Matthew Sanson. George Warleggan wants Ross put in jail and hanged, and he’s the guy that can make it happen. So [at the start of season two], we see Ross getting arrested. He’s brought to the courts and awaits the charge. He’s released on bail so he can sort out his counsel and figure out what he’s going to do. We left Demelza and Ross in [season] one on the side of the mountain in Cornwall letting go of a ribbon with their baby’s name—they’ve just lost their child and now he’s being arrested. In those days you didn’t survive a jail sentence because the jail was so rampant with disease and the conditions were horrible. He doesn’t think he’s going to get there, but he’s just putting all of those thoughts to the side. It’s a tough start for them, for a couple that’s had so many highs in the series, when they were making some money and having children and in the midst of marital bliss. Now it’s rock bottom for them. You wonder, Are they going to survive it? What’s going to happen if Ross does go to jail? Will Demelza be able to take care of this house? Where will the money come from? She can’t support herself at all. It’s a scary time for them. The only way is up for them. We’ll see what happens!