It's the smash-hit period drama which has made Irish actor Aidan Turner both a household name and a sex symbol in the UK.
But the hunky Poldark star has revealed he was initially concerned British audiences might not take to him nor be convinced by his portrayal of a well-known English literary character - because of his Irish background.
The 36-year-old Dubliner, who is back playing brooding mine owner Ross Poldark in the fifth and final season of the hugely-successful BBC show, also said he feared the award-winning drama might be a flop before it first aired.
And the Clondalkin native has revealed he felt daunted when he first won the part of the lead character, admitting he felt “quite young to be anchoring a show”.
Reflecting on the tentative days ahead of the airing of the first Cornwall-based series back in March 2015, he recalled: “It did feel like a risk at the time.
“We weren’t sure if the show would have an audience, whether people would remember or care about the books [by Winston Graham] or anything, and it just felt big to be in the centre leading this show.
“British actor, British character - would people buy it? Do people want an Irish guy doing that?”
But the Poldark pin-up - whose now-iconic topless scything scene won him a legion of female fans and helped him become one of the favourites to take over from Daniel Craig as the next James Bond - said being involved with the hit series, which pulls in over nine million viewers per episode, has to date the best thing he’s ever done.
In an interview with The Catholic Universe, The Hobbit trilogy star added: “There were nerves, but you just plough through it, you know.
In that Ross Poldark kind of way. Grab the reigns and just go.
“You can go out on Sunday night at 9pm and have no one watch it. We just struck a chord. It was the right place, right time.”
Meanwhile, hopes are growing that Turner’s character and screen wife Demelza, played by Eleanor Tomlinson, could be reunited on the big screen in the near future.
When quizzed about plans for a movie version of Poldark recently, executive producer Karen Thrussel said: “It has crossed my mind. I think you could do a couple of two-hour films to finish off the books.”
Poldark continues at 9pm on Sunday (Aug 4) on BBC One.
