Aidan Turner with his shirt on! Poldark star is dapper in a suit at Rivals gala screening after teasing his racy scenes in anticipated new show

Aidan Turner made a dapper appearance at the London gala screening for his new show Rivals on Tuesday night.

The Poldark star, 41, posed with his co-star Bella Maclean on the red carpet after teasing his role in the hugely anticipated show based on Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’.

Aidan has revealed viewers will be treated to a hilarious nod to his role as the shirtless Cornish heatthrob Ross Poldark in Rivals.

The actor shot to fame and heartthrob status in the title role of Poldark in the 2015 revival of the BBC series.

The Poldark star, 41, posed with his co-star Bella Maclean on the red carpet after teasing his role in the hugely anticipated show based on Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’

And now, the star will be stripping off again in his new Disney+ series.

The story is set in 1986 and follows the cut throat world of television, including the tense rivalry between Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant).

In the highly-anticipated show, Aidan is portraying intelligent TV presenter Declan O’Hara, whom will be convinced to leave the BBC for independent channel Corinium, only for him to feel let down.  

Hilariously, one of the fictional TV shows that’s featured in the series is called Four Men Went to Mow and sees farmers carrying out their work with their tops off. 

And in one very ironic scene, Aidan even yells: ‘TV can’t just be men taking their tops off!’

Discussing the moment with The Times Culture Magazine, the actor joked: ‘When I read the script, I was like, ‘Why have you put this in? It’s too close [to Poldark].’ 

‘But then they told me it’s in the original books – and it’s so funny. The first time I did that scene, people were laughing. It’s good to poke fun at these things.’

Aidan has revealed viewers will be treated to a hilarious nod to his role as the shirtless Cornish heatthrob Ross Poldark in Rivals

The actor shot to fame and heartthrob status in the title role of Ross Poldark in the 2015 revival of the BBC series

Rivals has been hailed by critics as a ‘bonkbuster’ as the first reviews for Jilly Cooper’s sexy TV adaptation have flooded in.

Critics have all agreed that the ‘vivacious’ new show from Disney+ will leave viewers blushing, cackling and rewinding.    

The Mail’s Jane Fryer gave the eight-part series five stars and revealed the show ‘kicks off with so much sex and swearing and nudity and ridiculously brilliant, tongue-in-cheek fun’ that viewers won’t want to tear their eyes away.