He may play the smooth swashbuckling hero Ross Poldark onscreen, but it turns out Aidan Turner isn't as comfortable as the character he plays when it comes to the sea, or at least he isn't anymore after a freak wave caused an accident on set of season two of the hit show.

Turner was filming a scene on the Cornish coast with co-star Eleanor Tomlinson when Mother Nature reared her ugly head and reminded him and everyone who was boss.

"We were filming me lifting Demelza out of a boat in the sea when this huge wave picked up the boat and slammed it into my head," he said in a recent interview.

"I dropped her in the water – not very Ross Poldark. And nobody was coming to see if I'm OK. I was the man injured... But one of the underwater cameramen got cracked as well and he was concussed."

"These waves, you wouldn't think there's anything to them, but once you get out there you're at the mercy of Mother Nature and she doesn't care how well the previous season rated... There's nothing like the Cornish sea at the height of winter for putting you in your place."

And any fans hoping for more shirtless action from Turner should lower their expectations for the season, as the winter weather meant he kept his clothes very much on, for the most part.

"The chances of me getting my shirt off outdoors in season two are zero," he said. "It was bloody freezing during filming."

Indoors, however, is a different story.

'Poldark' returns to BBC One this Sunday at 9pm.

Via Daily Mail