Poldark actress Heida Reed says infatuation with half naked Aidan Turner is 'ridiculous' and 'undermines the rest of the show'

The actress added if it had been a woman the media would “have a field day that she’s being objectified”

Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark (BBC )

The prospect of seeing Aidan Turner topless on TV attracts millions of viewers every week to the hit BBC drama Poldark.

However, Britain’s obsession with the actor, who appears as Ross Poldark in the show, has been labelled “ridiculous” by co-star Heida Reed, who added that it “undermines the rest of the show”.

Reed, who plays Elizabeth, a former fling of Poldark’s who has married his cousin, told The Telegraph: “I think there should be the same standard for both sexes when it comes to things like this.

Elizabeth (Heida Reed) and Ross Poldark (Aiden Turner) in the BBC's remake of their 1975 original series (BBC)

“Of course it’s nice for everyone involved that he’s viewed as a sex symbol or very attractive man. But it’s getting a little bit ridiculous. I think it just undermines the rest of the show.”

The Icelandic actress went on to say that if it were a woman in the same situation the media would “have had a field day that she’s being objectified.”

She added that Turner himself is “completely baffled by the amount of interest” in the topless images of him released by the BBC.

“The producers had no idea that was going to happen either,” she said. “They never said 'let’s have his shirt taken off and everyone will go nuts'. It wasn’t a strategy."

Turner, 31, has also wade into on the topless scandal, telling Newsbeat: "Apparently it was common law at the time that when you were scything you had to take your top off. So I did.

"I don't know why the BBC are releasing photos of it. It's a bit strange. It's not a stripper show."

Best known for his part as Kili the dwarf in The Hobbit films, Turner had previously promised a couple of bedroom scenes in Poldark but nothing gratuitous.

“It's sexy as hell,” he told reporters. “I have a nude swimming scene - I get naked a couple of times in it.

“I wasn't allowed any Cornish pasties because I'd get fat and I have to take my top off so much.”