It was the scene that reaped acres of coverage for BBC1 hit series Poldark and its lead actor Aidan Turner.

But there will be no shirtless-scything in the eagerly-anticipated second series of the adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels, its writer has confirmed.



Last year, Turner’s appearance as brooding Ross Poldark wielding a scythe with his top off caused such a stir it was voted top TV moment of 2015 by Radio Times readers and it even sparked a renewed interest in scything.

But when asked if there would be any reprise of the shirtless, agrarian scenes in series two of the period drama, writer Debbie Horsfield said: “Unfortunately autumn is very chilly in Cornwall, so he won’t be doing any in that.”



Whereas the first series was filmed during what Horsfield described as Cornwall’s “best summer in living memory”, filming of the 10 new episodes began last autumn and has only just finished.

But she said neither she nor the producers Mammoth Screen realised the scything scene would prove so popular.

Speaking at a Royal Television Society event in London which examined what made the show a hit, Horsfield said: “Who knew that one photograph would go global and there wouldn’t be a day in six months when it wasn’t in the paper? Normally after a show has had its first episode you’re kind of begging the press to show a bit of interest.

“I don’t think any of us thought [of the image of Turner scything] ‘Wow that’s going to be in every newspaper for the next year.’”

Mammoth managing director Damien Timmer said he remembered watching the rushes of the scything scenes after they were filmed and, “it was scary how naive I was” about the impact they subsequently had.

However chair and Heat reviews editor Boyd Hilton said he had spoken with Turner before Poldark aired and said the Irish actor was aware some of the scenes were “going to cause a stir”.

But his co-star Jack Farthing, who plays Poldark’s nemesis George Warleggan, said Turner, who is tipped as a future James Bond, did not take the attention he got too seriously and “laughs it off”.

Horsfield said that while she hoped Poldark would be a success when she wrote it, there were “so many variables”, along with a great cast and crew, that made it take off in the way it did.

“Who would have predicted that Cornwall would have the best summer in living memory … who would have predicted that our transmission would have been in the run-up to a general election and have acres of copy in newspapers asking who is the Ross Poldark of our time … who could have predicted that?”

She added: “I don’t think there was a day when we didn’t have four or five articles in the paper. It was wonderful, completely unexpected, you never know … we didn’t expect that to happen.”

The second series, which is based on the third and fourth books in Graham’s series of 12 Poldark novels, is due to air in the autumn on BBC1 and introduces some new characters.

While a third series has not yet been recommissioned, it is expected after Turner inadvertently hinted at the National Television Awards that filming would begin later this year.

However Horsfield only said she was looking at books five and six “in case we go further, because I like to know how I might plot a story out”.