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“When viewers tune in to the BBC’s new adaptation of Poldark, they will see rather a lot of its leading man. Aidan Turner, the eponymous star, is featured in the standard 21st century beefcake poses: bathing naked in a lake, and shirtless in a field with a sheen of sweat on his ripped, muscular frame.”

“[Robin Ellis, the original, dashing Poldark] captured the hearts and minds of a generation of women without stripping off for the cameras, and fondly recalled an era in which an ‘ordinary bloke’ could become a heart-throb.”

“‘Poldark wasn’t nearly as sexy as audiences like to believe,’ said Ellis, who is now 73 and has given the new show his blessing. He appears in a cameo role. … ‘I did take my white frilly shirt off on-screen—I was washing, I think—but it only happened the once in 29 episodes. ‘The morning after it was screened, I went to my local launderette as usual and handed my clothes in for a service wash. The Eastern European woman who always did my washing stood there, shaking her head in disappointment, wagging her finger at me and saying, ‘Big mistake,’ so I didn’t do it again,’ he laughed.”

“Last month, Jamie Dornan fever swept the nation. Now, it seems to be Aidan Turner’s turn to be ogled. Topless pictures of the star of new BBC drama Poldark have been everywhere this week, with many journalists focussing on Turner’s appearance, just as much as his acting. … But what effect is constantly seeing images of the likes of Jamie Dornan and Aidan Turner having on the nation’s ‘average’ men?”

“In the past year, we’ve seen more and more plus-size women represented in the media. … But plus-size male models are nowhere to be seen in mainstream media.”

“Rivkie Baum, editor of plus-size magazine SLiNK tells HuffPost UK Lifestyle: ‘I hear from my male friends how, while we openly discuss the challenges women face in terms of body acceptance and a diverse range of role models, and assume that men have it easy, it is in fact a much unspoken issue.’”

“Professor Damien Ridge of the University of Westminster tells us male body image is no laughing matter. ‘We expect men to be tough, manly and not vain, so we can sometimes be surprised to hear men are sensitive about their bodies,’ he says. ‘But why shouldn’t men be concerned about body image, given that there’s so much focus on the male body in the media? … They put men under pressure from a young age, suggesting they need to be lean in terms of fat, but also to have a very muscular body.’”

“ Turner, who plays Ross Poldark in the period drama, appeared on Twitter straight after the fourth episode of the programme to speak directly to his fans. Using the hastag #AskPoldark, the BBC invited fans from around the world to ask him questions about the show, his career and perhaps the fine art of acting. Instead, he found himself swamped with lustful fans, who were more interested in his hair, chest and sex life.”

“Aside from the odd stray bullet and a couple of brawls, there was precious little to justify Poldark’s post-watershed positioning. Bodices remained primly unripped. Sex was strictly for the slatternly lower orders: Phil Davis and Beatie Edney as a loamy pair of servants were often to be found in whatever the Cornish is for flagrante delicto.”