The Poldark actor Aidan Turner has said his famous shirtless scything scene in the BBC One drama made him appreciate how women feel when objectified.
The 36-year-old, who shot to fame in the series based on Winston Graham’s books, became a small-screen heartthrob when the topless scene was broadcast four years ago. Radio Times readers voted it the TV moment of 2015.
Turner said while he never felt personally objectified, it enabled him to have more empathy towards women who have found themselves in a similar position.
The Irish actor told the Radio Times: “I’m a man. It’s just not the same. It’s a completely different world for me. I walk down the street, I don’t ever feel scared. There are women who feel scared every day. It’s a very different world for me.
“If I go to a BFI screening and 20 women come up and they want selfies, it can sometimes get a little hands-on. But I never feel like my safety is in question. I never feel like I need to get out of there. I don’t get scared, so it’s different. Whereas a woman might, if it happened with 20 guys crowding around her.”
The fifth series of Poldark begins on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One and will run for eight episodes.
Turner said the public were generally kind to him and he did not receive too much hassle from admirers and people who recognised him.
“When the show is on television you get recognised a bit more,” he said. “That’s the great thing about audiences: they’re brilliantly fickle. They’re gorgeously fickle. We all are. You’re popular when you’re on television but when you’re not no one really cares about you. So that’s useful, I suppose.
“I certainly don’t get hassled. Maybe on a Friday or Saturday night in a pub at one o’clock in the morning – people have a few drinks, all it takes is for one person to see you and then tell their mates – but people are generally really kind. I’m grateful for it.”
The fifth series is expected to be the last, though the writer Debbie Horsfield has said there is a possibility the show could return as there are still five books of the 12-part series left to cover.
