Eleanor Tomlinson fears backlash as Demelza Poldark cheats on husband Ross

You’d think that dastardly George Warleggan (Jack Farthing) would be keeping a low profile
(Image credit: BBC/Adrian Rogers)

Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson has revealed she is worried about how fans will respond when her character Demelza cheats on husband Ross.

Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson has revealed she is worried about how fans will respond when her character Demelza cheats on husband Ross.

Demelza will shock fans of the BBC series after she's seen sharing a passionate embrace with new aristocratic arrival Hugh Armitage, played by Burberry model Josh Whitehouse.

Speaking to The Sun , Eleanor said: “He pays Demelza some attention, which is nice. I’m not going to give anything away but I’m intrigued to see how the fans respond to it.

"I’m bracing myself.”

Although Eleanor doesn't specifically refer to an affair between the two characters, the new series is based on Winston Graham's The Four Swans, which sees Hugh and Demelza have sex.

The series opens with Ross’s ex-lover Elizabeth (Heida Reed) due to give birth very soon and seemingly worried about whether George is the father of her unborn child.

But her husband remains blissfully ignorant of her one-night stand with Ross.

“We don’t know the father of that child – in the books it’s not clear,” executive producer Karen Thrussell says of the Winston Graham novels.

“In those days it was difficult – there were no tests. We don’t know and neither does Elizabeth. Neither does Demelza, neither does Ross.”

Actor Aidan Turner recently revealed that the main cast have signed up for five series. The third series covers the fifth book, The Black Moon, and a good chunk of the sixth, The Four Swans.

The fourth season will take the action into The Angry Tide, the seventh novel, and series five is likely to cover the remaining five books.

At that point the show may be recast, as Graham’s next story, The Stranger From The Sea, jumps forward by a decade, to 1810.