Rivals star Aiden Turner, 42, reveals his rear in latest episode of Jilly Cooper bonkbuster classic, more than a decade after he set hearts racing by showing off his pecs in Poldark

Rivals star Aiden Turner set pulses racing as he stripped off and recreated Poldark’s nude swimming scene in the latest episode of the Disney+ extravaganza.

The 42-year-old Irish actor, who plays Declan O’Hara in the racy series, first rose to fame playing the brooding Captain Ross Poldark in the historical BBC series, which aired from 2015 to 2019.

The fifth episode of Rivals’ second season was released on the platform on Friday and opened with a scene of Aiden’s character swimming naked in a lake.

He emerged from the water showing off his ripped body and caught a glimpse of his ass as he reached for his pants.

It was very reminiscent of a scene in 2015’s Poldark, where he strips completely naked before enjoying a dip in the sea while his love interest Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) watches.

Based on Winston Graham’s acclaimed novels set in 18th-century Cornwall, the epic tells the story of Ross Poldark, an Army officer who returns to England after fighting in the American War of Independence and discovers that his fiancée, Elizabeth (Heida Reed), believes him dead and has gone to live with her cousin.

The 42-year-old Irish actor, who plays Declan O’Hara in the racy drama, first rose to fame playing the brooding Captain Ross Poldark in the historical BBC drama (R), which aired from 2015 to 2019.

Poldark later marries his maid Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), but is forever torn between the two women.

It has been revealed that Dame Jilly Cooper has berated the team behind Rivals and told them to stop making “macho men” cry on screen.

The series, which also stars Danny Dyer, David Tennant and Emily Atack, is adapted from the best-selling novel written by Dame Jilly, who died unexpectedly at the age of 88 last October after being injured in a fall at home.

Now the show’s executive producer has revealed that Dame Jilly delivered a memorable critique on set.

Speaking at the Hay Festival on Sunday, Rivals writer and executive producer Laura Wade said: ‘We were so lucky to have Jilly… You would expect someone to be pretty strict about what you do with the main characters, but she really wasn’t.

‘If I was making Rupert (Campbell-Black) cry too often, he’d say it was one of his favourites: ‘Stop making my macho men cry all the time.’

Set in the Cotswolds countryside in the 1980s, Rivals follows the dicey world of British television when professional and personal lives collide and careers, marriages and reputations hang by a thread.

Dame Jilly was an active part of the production and served as executive producer.

Elsewhere at the festival, Victoria Smurfit, who plays Maud O’Hara in Rivals, recalled the moment the cast and crew learned of Dame Jilly’s sudden death.

The fifth episode of Rivals’ second season was released on the platform on Friday and opened with a scene of Aiden’s character swimming naked in a lake.

He emerged from the water showing off his ripped body

He even took a look at her butt while reaching for his pants.

This was very reminiscent of a scene in Poldark in 2015, where he strips completely naked before enjoying a dip in the sea and is watched by his love interest Demelza (Podark pictured)

Epic based on Winston Graham’s acclaimed novels set in 18th-century Cornwall (Poladark pictureDd)

He learns that his fiancée, Elizabeth (Heida Reed), believes him dead and has moved in with her cousin (Elenor Tomlinson photo taken in Poldark).

The actress said: ‘I came back (after a break) and Eliza Mellor, our incredible producer from the set, was in the room and everything about her was ruined and I remember walking in and going, ‘Oh my God, someone’s dead.’

‘And it’s a testament to Jilly’s radiance and her champagne-soaked spirit of heavenly pleasure that, at 88, not a single bit of me thought it could be her.

‘He’d seen all the episodes, he’d seen the third season, he’d seen everything and he was falling over and over…

‘And now he’s starting to have fun there.’

Dame Jilly died after suffering head injuries after falling down the stairs at her Cotswolds home, an inquest heard last year.

The author, known for his racy novels such as Riders, Rivals and Polo, was raised by his family at the World War II hospital in Bisley, Gloucestershire, at around 5pm on 4 October. He was found in his house, which is under protection.

They called an ambulance and when they arrived at the scene paramedics found Dame Jilly awake and talking about a ‘severe headache’.

The inquest heard the woman had no memory of the previous events but had a “vague memory” of the fall.