Rivals star Aidan Turner says he threw himself into racy sex scenes with co-star Victoria Smurfit – as he admits it’s ‘like doing a dance surrounded by 50 hairy men with cameras’
Rival star Aidan Turner has revealed he got into his racy scenes with friend and co-star Victoria Smurfit.
The Irish actor, 41, stars in the Disney+ series as journalist Declan O’Hara with Victoria, 50, who plays his wife Maud.
Rivals has a large number of raw scenes, with husband and wife Declan and Victoria also pulling out all the stops.
But talk to The Sunday timesAidan revealed that both he and Victoria had no trouble with the intimacy. “Victoria is such a legend, she’s a friend, I love her,” he said.
“It didn’t matter to us, we just got straight into it,” Aidan added, admitting that Victoria didn’t know there would even be intimacy coordinators until the couple arrived on set.
Rival star Aidan Turner revealed to The Sunday Times that he jumped into his racy scenes with friend and co-star Victoria Smurfit
Rivals has quite a few raw scenes, with husband and wife Declan and Maud (played by Aidan and Victoria) also pulling out all the stops
The Poldark star said: ‘It’s technical but you have to have fun with it, it can’t just be laborious.
‘It’s like a dance. There are fifty hairy guys hanging around with cameras.”
His admission comes after it was revealed that younger Rivals writers had rallied to remove the groping scene from the eight-part Disney adaptation.
It was a scene in Rivals that set viewers’ blood cold when Dame Jilly Cooper’s dark-haired lothario Rupert Campbell Black stuck his hand up 19-year-old Taggie’s skirt.
Dominic Treadwell-Collins, executive producer and writer of the show, said: “We talked a lot about the groping scene between Taggie and Rupert and whether we could show that on screen, and yes, we sat in the writers’ room and wrested that out .
“Some younger writers said, ‘You can’t hold that in because we would never want Rupert and Taggie to get together after he groped her.’
“And we said, well, he has to change, that has to stay in, it’s a commentary on the ’80s and these men.”
Rivals has since been critically acclaimed for its loyal adaptation of Dame Jilly’s original storyline, not shying away from the more uncomfortable truths of the pre-MeToo 1980s.
The Irish actor, 41, stars in the Disney+ series as journalist Declan O’Hara with Victoria, 50, who plays his wife Maud
But speaking to The Sunday Times, Aidan revealed that both he and Victoria had no qualms about the intimacy
“Victoria is such a legend, she’s a friend, I love her,” he said
Alex Hassell, 44, plays Tory MP Rupert Campbell Black, who grows fond of Taggie, played by 26-year-old Bella Maclean, the young daughter of fictional journalist Declan O’Hara, played by Poldark’s Aiden Turner.
Mr Treadwell-Collins, a writer for EastEnders, told the Rivals podcast: ‘In the writers’ room we made sure we had young writers and older writers and a mix of sexualities and races, and played with it.’
‘We can see it as a historical piece and celebrate the eighties, but also judge it a bit.’
In response to the groping, Hassell said Grazia: ‘The show shines a light on how far we’ve come since then and it’s important to the character’s arc and his relationship with Taggie,’
‘Not to avoid the fact that Rupert is a total s**t; if you stop at episode two, he’s just an asshole, but that’s where he got to come from.”
Fans have been begging Disney+ for a second season after the show ended on a cliffhanger with one character’s life hanging in the balance.
Rivals has since been critically acclaimed for its loyal adaptation of Dame Jilly’s original storyline, not shying away from the more uncomfortable truths of the pre-MeToo 1980s.
A number of fans have fallen in love with the series and have admitted to watching all eight episodes in just a few days.
“Oh my. I think there will be a season 2 of Rivals. they stayed so true to the book, I didn’t expect that ending!’: ‘Just saw Rivals and oh my god, it’s so good. Not normally my thing, but I’m hooked. I need a season 2.
The show has been labeled a ‘bonkbuster’ and Disney’s sexiest series ever, earning a whopping 93% on the Tomatometer.
Jane Fryer of The Mail gave the eight-part series five stars, revealing that the show “opens with so much sex and swearing and nudity and ridiculously brilliant, tongue-in-cheek fun” that viewers won’t want to take their eyes off.