The BBC has been accused of broadcasting a “rape fantasy” that blurs the lines between consensual and non-consensual sex after a scene from the hit historical drama Poldark showed the title character forcing himself upon a former lover.

In the scene broadcast on Sunday evening the show’s hero Ross Poldark bursts into the home of Elizabeth to confront her over her plans to marry his nemesis, George Warleggan. She struggles and protests as he tries to kiss her and although Elizabeth repeatedly says “no”, he throws her on to the bed and pins her down, at which point she succumbs to him and responds passionately.

Poldark’s producer Karen Thrussell said the episode showed a “fiery encounter which concludes with a consensual act”. But campaigners said the scene depicts a rape, and that the episode’s portrayal of a woman who resists sex but then enjoys it reinforces damaging narratives around rape and consent.

“We have a society where consent is not very well understood and I think the BBC are reflecting that,” said Fay Maxted, chief executive of the Survivors Trust, an umbrella organisation for rape charities. “This is some sort of rape fantasy where the man is overcome by his lusty passions and the woman resists but she really wants him after all. It’s a complete rape myth.”

She added: “I think it is irresponsible of the BBC to misrepresent a rape in a high-profile programme when consent is so poorly understood.”

Sarah Green, a spokeswoman for the End Violence Against Women coalition, said the scene would “not be out of place in a porn film” as it showed “a strong man who knows what must be done and a woman who apparently resists but wanted it really”.



She added: “Ideas like this are underneath lots of excuses for not believing women when they report rape.”

Maxted said the BBC’s approach introduced an element of uncertainty about whether Elizabeth consents to sex with Poldark that isn’t in the books on which the series is based, written by Winston Graham. “The book isn’t ambiguous: it’s clear that Ross Poldark rapes Elizabeth, and for the BBC to be denying that fact and saying it’s showing consensual sex is really worrying.”

She added: “In the book the scene ends with him carrying her towards the bed, so the book doesn’t go into details of Elizabeth reciprocating or it being some sort of romantic union between star-crossed lovers: it’s a rape. She clearly says no – she slaps him across the face and repeatedly says no.”

The series creators had indicated they would cut the rape storyline from their adaptation of Graham’s 1953 book Warleggan. Aidan Turner, who plays Poldark, told the Sun before the series aired that the rape depicted in the book would be portrayed as a romantic affair.

“It seems consensual, and it just seems right. He goes to talk. He doesn’t go to commit a crime,” he said. “They talk and it seems like there is still this spark between them, this unfinished business emotionally. Certainly, that’s how Ross feels. He doesn’t force himself upon her.”

Green said the decision to change the plot suggested the creators were uncomfortable with the idea that a “usually heroic or moral man” could commit rape.

“Myths and stereotypes about perpetrators of rape are also part of the problem in our society – beliefs that only clearly bad, dirty, outsider, criminal men ever do this. We should have left this kind of depiction of rape behind by now,” she said.

Andrew Graham, the author’s son and a consultant to Poldark’s production company, Mammoth Screen, said the idea that the books contain a rape was mistaken. “There is no ‘shock rape’ storyline in the novels. To say so is to misconstrue my father’s text. The BBC has cut nothing and Mammoth Screen’s portrayal of these scenes is entirely true to my father’s writing,” he said.



The scene is “consistent with the potential for rape”, he agreed, but the result is left to the reader’s imagination. Reading the novels as a whole suggests the incident was “consensual sex born of long-term love and longing”, he said.

Green criticised the frequent use of rape as a plot device in TV series to titillate and scare viewers. She added: “The creators of these programmes need to talk to those who provide counselling for real-life rape survivors. The Archers team managed to work closely with those who really know about domestic violence. Is it too much to ask TV creatives to do similar?”



Maxted said the BBC’s handling of the issue was particularly worrying in light of the rising number of reported rapes in the UK. “About 34,000 rapes were reported in the year to March 2016 but the rates of conviction hasn’t changed,” she said.

The BBC declined to comment, instead referring questions to the production company.