Aidan Turner: I broke my hand filming Poldark
Actor reveals the dangers of performing his own stunts on the show and promised even more swashbuckling adventures for the upcoming third series
Aidan Turner has become used to putting his body on the line playing Ross Poldark, having already suffered a knock to the head while filming the BBC1 drama. Now, he's got another injury to add to the list.
Turner revealed that he once broke his hand during Poldark filming, telling an audience at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival that such were the dangers of performing his own stunts.
“I think I do all of it; I broke my hand!” he said during the session on Saturday, while teasing that there is more action to come for the Cornwall hero.
He implied the accident happened during filming for the upcoming third series, a fact which was confirmed by a production source. Turner said the new series will be packed with even more action than the previous two.
Turner added that a key storyline will see Ross set forth to rescue his friend Dwight Enys (Luke Norris) who has been captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars which broke out at the end of series two.
Said Turner: “Dwight’s ship goes missing off the coast of France, so Ross rallies the troops together to try to find out where he is and it turns out he’s in prison. So he has to go and bust him out: it’s the boys with the guns, it’s very exciting. There’s a little war movie in the middle of it.
“It was a lot of fun running around in the woods with guns. It’s fun to break from the studio stuff," Turner added. "That’s why I do it.”
Aidan Turner at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival
However, Poldark writer Debbie Horsfield interrupted his speech to point out that there was one stunt for the upcoming series – in which his character is forced to jump in the harbour – where he got a stunt man to perform the plunge.
Fans of the show were today treated to exclusive footage of the upcoming series, which RadioTimes.com exclusively revealed will air in June. Turner also confirmed that a fourth series would start filming in September.
The new footage included a scene in which Ross rode on his steed to rescue Elizabeth (Heida Reed) – who is pregnant – as her horse is galloping towards a cliff edge.
Scenes were also shown featuring Demelza's brothers, new characters to the show who feature prominently in series three.
Turner also revealed the truth about his relationship with Garrick, Demelza’s dog in the show, who lives with her and Ross.
“I love dogs, I’m a dog person. He’s a working dog and when he’s on set he’s working but he’s not terribly affectionate and it kind of annoys me that he’s not," Turner said. "He doesn’t want to know you unless you have a treat in your hand and I have no time for that!”
Aidan Turner was speaking at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival.
