What with hunky actor James Norton’s noble machismo, Lily James’ enchanting decolletage and the cheeky insertion of an incestuous frisson that would surely have got Tolstoy’s own pulse rating, the BBC’s new War And Peace adaptation has already caused quite a stir.

But the scene in the opening episode that particularly got viewers into a lather featured another character of extraordinary talent and emotional range.

Pink nostrils flaring, ears pinned back and with Count Nikolai Rostov (Jack Lowden) on his back, Little Rook charged, full tilt and fearless, straight into the line of gunfire as men and other horses stumbled around him in a blood-splattered mess.

Soon this brave steed, too, was felled by a shot to the side of his face and, mid-gallop, twisted in agony and dropped like a boulder to the ground. From there, he stared up in despair as blood trickled down his long brave cheek, eyes transfixing the shocked viewers sitting on their sofas, realising Little Rook was about to take his last, laboured, horsey breath.

The star of the show: Stunt horse Ziggy plays dead with Jane Fryer

The minute he did, viewer reaction was immediate.

‘The look on that horse’s face,’ one viewer wrote on social media. ‘If it doesn’t win the Best Supporting Horse at this year’s TV awards, there is no justice.’

Another tweeted: ‘Actually thinking about ringing the horse for acting lessons. The horse nailed that scene and remains my highlight in episode 1.’

Someone else insisted the animal had ‘more emotional range’ than pin-up actor James Norton.

Many more seemed oblivious to the fact that — like its human co-stars — the horse was only acting. They were so worried for his welfare that a BBC spokesman felt obliged to make it clear that, in real life, the animal had not gone to the great stable in the sky but walked away safely.

So imagine my excitement when, earlier this week, I was granted an audience not with James Norton, or his co-star and former Downton Abbey starlet Lily James, but Ziggy, the nine-year-old white gelding who plays Little Rook, at his home on the Wychwood Stud in Mursley, Buckinghamshire.

In the flesh, Ziggy is surprisingly soft and gentle and docile — other than when he nips my hand. He loves nuts and hay, smells of saddle soap and sweet manure, lets me plonk myself on his back and seems to enjoy the attention.

A member of a brilliant stunt team hired for films and TV productions, he is delighted to show off his acting skills.

So after a gentle tug on one leg, he obligingly lumbers to the ground, wriggles until he’s comfy and then blinks one sad, pretend dying eye at me as I stroke his chin. Then he gets up again, shamelessly relieves himself noisily and, well, that’s pretty much it.

Count Nikolai (Jack Lowden) prepares for battle

A character of extraordinary talent and emotional range: Ziggy stole the viewers' hearts when he appeared in the show

Because it turns out Ziggy isn’t the sort of horse who can pretend he’s been shot with a musket while galloping at up to 40mph. Lying down and dying is the extent of his range.

Which naturally means that like any A-list film star, he has a stunt double — his much more energetic stablemate, Ziggan, who actually did all the charging about and falling over.

‘Ziggan’s the hard man, the macho stunt man,’ says stud owner Gerard Naprous. ‘Like any actor, you can’t possibly expect them to charge about one minute and then tug our heart strings the next. The stunt man does the hard work while the “hero” does “emotion”.’

Pink nostrils flaring, ears pinned back and with Count Nikolai Rostov (Jack Lowden) on his back, Little Rook charged, full tilt and fearless, straight into the line of gunfire as men and other horses stumbled around him in a blood-splattered mess

He should certainly know.

Gerard, a 68-year-old Frenchman with an ’Allo ’Allo accent, is a stuntman himself. He owns more than 60 performing horses, 300 carriages and has appeared in hundreds of films. He taught himself to ride after vaulting onto a cart horse when he was ten. He also has a relentlessly twinkly eye and says: ‘I have a gift. I can train them both — zee horses and zee laydeez.’

I can’t vouch for the ladies, but he clearly knows his horses.

For the three-month shoot of War And Peace last year, he had to transport more than 60 horses and a team of 20 handlers on a 1,300-mile journey by truck to Lithuania.

‘I knew Lithuania because I had filmed Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren there and did lots of stunt work. She used to say to me: “Oh Gerard, you are always so beautiful in costume.” She was wild!’ he adds dreamily.

Sadly for his horses, there is no such on-set excitement, because Gerard won’t cast mares.

‘They’re too emotional. You put mares into the mix and everyone just wants to make love all zee day.’

But happily, horses travel well, acclimatise the minute they arrive and are eager workers.

‘Their attitude is: “Food; bed; great, let’s get on with it!” ’

Which is a good thing, because despite the glamorous image of movie-making, film-sets are unglamorous places. Particularly if you’re a horse.

Stuntman Jake Cox riding Zigan, who stunt doubled for Ziggy, Here Jake demonstrates how Ziggy was felled and 'died' in War and Peace

Days on the War And Peace set were cripplingly long — often lasting from 4am until 11pm — involving endless standing around in the cold and rain as scenes were shot and reshot.

‘It takes a certain horse personality to do filming,’ Gerard explains. ‘A film horse and regular horse are streets apart. Film horses have extraordinary strength and stamina and know how to set their minds.’

He also insists they know when they’re on camera — when to give it their all, and when to switch off and relax between takes and watch their double do his stuff.

Because doubles do all the galloping about, shooting does not have to be held up while overexcited mounts stop sweating.

Like actors, different horses have different skills. Some, such as Decanto, a vast black horse now in semi-retirement and star of the famous Lloyd’s bank advert, are good at rearing. Others can roll over, or charge, or limp. Some will lie down. Some pull chariots, others happily prance in front of ornate carriages.

Since getting his big break — riding his horses on the Ken Dodd show in Blackpool in 1971 — Gerard’s charges have starred in a host of well-known TV productions and films, including Game Of Thrones, Dr Who, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, Black Beauty and Emmerdale. They’ve galloped in pop videos, cantered in TV commercials (for Hovis and Land Rover), nosed their way into pop videos, and every year take part in a dare-devil travelling show called The Devil’s Horsemen. They are clearly loved and well looked-after. They are trained, but not over-trained. Gerard’s approach is ‘little and often’, gently reinforcing a move over time — and coaxing better performances with pats, nuts and TLC.

‘To have a good horse takes five or six years,’ he says.

As well as their casting agent and trainer, Gerard is their make-up artist. Manes and tails are dyed, hooves are painted. If there’s a requirement for a black horse that’s good at rearing and he has only a chestnut or grey, he’ll transform it with a specialist wash-in, wash-out dye.

'Deliberately playing up', actors are not allowed to ride on a horse like Ziggy, who can only be ridden by a stuntman

‘We dyed loads of horses for Black Beauty and King Arthur. You just have to be a bit careful in the rain that the dye doesn’t start to run!’

His son, Dan, and daughter, Camilla, are also involved in the business — she is working on the sixth series of Game Of Thrones in Belfast; Dan on the new Wonder Woman film. While Gerard has plenty to say about the acting ‘old guard’ — Sean Connery, Sean Bean, Jeremy Irons, Pierce Brosnan and his ‘good friend Sting’ — and how fun they all were, as well as wonderful riders, he’s less effusive about the younger generation.

Could this be a hint that the strapping War And Peace stars were a little, whisper it, lily-livered about their riding scenes? ‘They’re a different breed from the rest of us,’ says Gerard. ‘They’ve got more delicate. They’re not real men any more.’

He even has to teach some actors to ride from scratch. ‘They ask questions such as: “Am I going to hurt him when I sit on him?” or “Is it going to bite me?”, says Gerard.

The exception is Aneurin Barnard, the Welsh actor who plays Prince Boris Drubetskoy. ‘He’s brilliant, properly good — he could be a stunt man.’

While some horses, such as Ziggy, know when their mount is a novice rider and take care of them, others, such as his stunt double Ziggan, deliberately play up. ‘We’d never let an actor go on Ziggan!’ says Gerard. ‘We have to use a stunt man.’

As Ziggan comes snorting past with a professional called Jake on his back, it’s clear to see why. He is beautiful and terrifying, prancing and skittering as if his hooves are on fire, and clearly feels he’s the real star.

Faster and faster he canters round the arena until he leaps and stops dead, mid-air. It’s as if he’s had a heart attack — his head flails wildly to the left, his half-tonne body thunders down to the right.

It’s shocking to watch, but a second-and-a-half later he’s back on his hooves, raring to go as his rider wobbles to his feet and we all, including Ziggy, look on in awe.

So the next time you see a horse giving you big eyes from the screen, spare a thought for its understudy, who spends its lifegalloping about and being shot at — but never gets the glory.