Aiden Turner has become known for playing supernatural roles in Being Human, The Hobbit and The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones, but takes on the role of Ross Poldark in the BBC's new adaptation of the novels by Winston Graham .
He admitted: “If it wasn’t a werewolf, a dwarf or a vampire, it wasn’t for me. Playing a real person was great. That was a challenge in itself.
“It just resounded more with me, this character. He’s strong, he’s rebellious, he’s resilient, an outsider. He has this insane sort of mental fortitude.”
Aidan added that he had never heard of BBC's previous adaptation of the story, which was a big hit in the 1970s. However, he said that his parents “nearly had a fit” when they heard about their son's latest role because they were big fans of the drama which starred Robin Ellis in the lead.
He continued: “It was all a mystery to me, which was good in some ways, because I was starting from the ground up.
Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson in Poldark (BBC)
“The more people I’m meeting now, it’s not just the older generation that know it. A lot of the younger generation do too, so I’m presuming the VHS tape has been in the family for years, or the books have been knocking around.”
Aidan added that there had been plenty of fans of the Poldark saga hanging around the set in Cornwall, too.
He said: “Visitors and fans would show up every day. I don’t know how they knew where the locations were, but they’d find us on the side of a cliff on Bodmin Moor.”
Poldark begins on Sunday, BBC1 at 9.00pm.
