‘The sexy stuff has got to be coming to an end, right?’: Rivals star Aidan Turner on beards, ballroom dancing and putting Poldark to bed

His dashing lead role in Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster didn’t hurt the actor’s pin-up status, but now, he protests, he’s 43 – and a dad

Aidan Turner has a tactical beard. For the last two decades or so, the actor has found himself in roles that have made him a smouldering pin-up. Audiences really love to look at him. You can buy mugs that say, “Today I don’t feel like doing anything … except Aidan Turner.” There are entire Reddit forums dedicated to sharing photographs of him looking hot. He knows this about himself, just like he knows that people want to ask him about it. “I do get asked these questions,” he says, a little wearily.