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Rivals' Aidan Turner says racy show won't reignite Poldark sex symbol debate

Watch: Aidan Turner discusses whether Rivals will reignite Poldark debate

Aidan Turner isn’t convinced his racy new series Rivals will reignite the debate around his sex symbol status quite like it did when he starred in Poldark, he tells Yahoo UK.

The actor portrays Declan O’Hara in the Disney+ show, a hard-hitting journalist whose family life is turned upside down when he is offered a job by Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) in his bid to tear down lothario Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell). Adapted from Jilly Cooper’s novel of the same name, the series is chock full of sex scenes as one might expect from the source material, and this includes scenes featuring Turner’s Declan and his wife Maud (Victoria Smurfit).

When Poldark was airing scenes where Turner was shirtless caused quite the stir, with it being a cause for debate around the female gaze on one hand and objectification on the other. Turner strips off for Rivals, more so than he ever did for Poldark, but even so the actor isn’t convinced things will reach the same "dizzying heights" over his scenes as it did with his breakout role.

"I don't know if they will for this one. I think Rupert is definitely... he's the guy because I think he exudes that," Turner admits.

Aidan Turner caused quite a stir when he went shirtless for Poldark, and will similarly strip off for Rivals. (Disney+/BBC)

"When I look at Declan I see a journalist and I see a dad. I see somebody who's kind of serious, about himself, I think he takes himself quite seriously, his work quite serious. So I don't know if he gives off those signs, I would be surprised if it gets to those kind of dizzying heights of 'heart-throbbiness'"

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While he's sure that Hassell's character will be the one to draw the most attention, there's a lot of nudity and scenes of an intimate nature from all of the cast, including Turner, that it's hard not to see it happening. To this, Turner jokes: "You never know, I suppose, scaring me slightly now."

Turner's Declan has drama both in his personal and professional life throughout the series, with the former coming from his actress wife Maud who has taken an interest in Hassell's Rupert. Not only does she shamelessly flirt with the showjumper-turned-politician she actively tries to get him to sleep with her, despite her husband's unyielding devotion.

"He is sweet with her," Turner says of his character's marriage. "I think there is a certain amount of guilt, there has been, I think, neglect over the last decade of the relationship. They moved out of London, it's all been about Declan's career. Maud has sort of sacrificed her career as an actor and raising kids, and Declan was absent from a lot of that.

"So they do have an interesting sort of bohemian relationship, but I think he's beginning to understand that he needs to do more. He doesn't want to lose this woman and he doesn't wanna break up his family. But he's trying to balance everything and keep the family together, make some money, it's a difficult time, but he's angry a lot of the time, I suppose, about it."

Smurfit sees Maud's journey differently, telling Yahoo UK how her character is a "star in her head" adding: "I think one of the the truisms of ageing is the outside might change and deteriorate but inside you're still 17, or you're still 22. You don't feel like you're ageing, but everybody else sees it.

"And she's dealing with not just ageing but also losing her career because she's now stuck in the countryside, and now it's all about Declan's career, which she hasn't been used to. The focus has always been on her, but yes, she's ageing and struggling with 'Well, why isn't Rupert Campbell-Black interested? Why are people not fancying me? Why am I not the centre of attention?'

"Her absolute driving force within her is to say 'no, I am the queen of everything', and there's consequences, and the consequences of I am the queen of everything is not having the best possible relationship with your beautiful children because of the selfishness that drive that ambition.

"But she's so vulnerable and so insecure and so broken, and it was really fun to lean into that, those tough moments."

Regardless of how tough the moments were in the script, creating those moments on set was a joy according to Smurfit: "[It was] easy, just fun, [he was an] instant comfort, [there was] instant trust. We barely even talked about what we were doing, we would just go 'right' [and make it happen]. It was lovely and we had lots of big emotional stuff to do it was really easy. He's heaven."

Bella Maclean, who plays Declan and Maud's daughter Taggie, referred to Turner as "a big teddy bear" on set, saying: "He's so funny, and he can be quite naughty and make dark moments [in a scene] be quite fun for the actor."