Poldark star Phil Davis: why I've left Jud behind
The actor explains why he swapped his servant's rags for the sharp suits of Sky’s international crime drama Riviera. But he doesn’t rule out a return to Cornwall...
Jud Paynter, Ross Poldark’s untrustworthy serving man, is missing this series. But will he be back?
Phil Davis, who played the character for the last two series but is absent from the current run, assures RadioTimes.com that he decided to opt out because the producers were kind enough to tip him off that the part was going to be quite small.
“The truth of the matter is Poldark got in touch with me, with my agent, before series three and said 'we don’t have much of a storyline for you so if you’re in the series it won’t be the whole thing, it will be a couple of episodes really'.
“So it was good of them to tip me the wink so I could look for other stuff. And I was offered [Sky Atlantic drama series] Riviera which I was in for eight out of the ten episodes so it seemed sensible to do that. And I couldn’t do both as they were shot at the same time.”
The downsizing of the part of Jud, he says, came about because his comedy double act with his wife Prudie (Beatie Edney) didn’t quite fit the tone of this current series.
All episodes of Riviera are now available exclusively on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. Sky Q customers will be able to watch Riviera in Ultra HD
