Aidan Turner's Poldark role 'meant to be'

The 31-year-old actor has won millions of fans for his brooding role as Captain Ross Poldark and the Cornish saga has since been recommissioned for a second series.

Scenes of Aidan swimming naked in the sea and working topless with a scythe in a field have grabbed the most attention, while a question and answer Twitter session descended into farce when the actor was swamped with questions about his looks.

Debbie Horsfield, who wrote the hit adaptation, said she knew “somebody pretty spectacular” had to play the title role and Aidan was her first choice.

She told BBC Radio 5 live’s Anna Foster she normally does not write scripts with actors in mind but made an exception for Aidan.

She said: “I started mulling it over in my head what were the characteristics that you would need and it became clear it was a pretty special person. I wrote one name down in my notebook then closed the book and didn’t say anything to anybody.”

But then the show’s producer suggested him as well and Debbie revealed he was also her choice.

She said: “So the producer spoke to Aidan’s agent to ask if he was available and miraculously he was because a film he was supposed to be doing had fallen through. He came to meet us, he read the scripts, we offered him the part, it was meant to be.”

Aidan, who also enjoyed a role in The Hobbit, came to attention in Being Human on BBC Three.

Poldark, based on the novels of Winston Graham, was originally made for TV in the 1970s when it attracted audiences of 15 million and the remake has helped BBC One to its highest share of an audience in a decade.

Filming on the new series starts in Cornwall in September.