Poldark star Aidan Turner has revealed his character in new Prime Video series Fifteen-Love may be one of his darkest roles to date.
The actor plays tennis coach Glenn Lapthorn in the six-part series, who faces a shocking allegation from former pupil and tennis star Justine Pearce (Ella Lily Hyland).
After bowing out from the sport with a devastating injury, Pearce retrains as a physiotherapist at her former academy and sees herself thrust back into the spotlight after making an allegation against her former coach.
The Fifteen-Love trailer pits the two characters against one another, making you question who is really telling the truth. Is Glenn really the nice guy he outwardly projects and does Justine just bear a grudge?
Related: First look at Poldark and The Crown stars in new tennis drama series
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, Turner shared his interpretation of Glenn, while being careful not to give away any answers.
"He's got layers and it’s nuanced and difficult," he said. "I think I like the idea of him having these different masks for different people.
"You have his professional life, his family life, a way of speaking to his professional friends, who he trains with, and then a different mask for other people, for some of his other students."
He hopes these different personas make the audience question if they're really masks or rather his way of keeping secrets in a possible dark and "sinister world" that he's orchestrating.
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"I thought that's gonna be really challenging as an actor to play. Like, how do you do that?" he continued. "He's really charming and very affable, and he's really talented. And he's a supportive person who really cares about teaching people. It's brilliant.
"So how can we show that with the darker side and still have it be believable, authentic?
"So there was a lot in it. From the very early read, I thought, it's gonna take a lot to pull it off. But it was an enjoyable process."
Related: The Suspect's Aidan Turner confronted fear of heights for intense scene
The Suspect star also praised the script as being "really smart" and credits the whole cast and crew for their delicate handling of the subject matter.
"I think this story, it's a really brave story to tell," he said. "I think there's a world where if it wasn't in the hands of the right people, it could be messy and clumsy and not helpful.
"And it's none of those things. You know, it's been captured beautifully and brilliantly by everyone involved."
Fifteen-Love launches on Prime Video UK and Ireland on July 21.
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Emily is an experienced entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow. She joined Digital Spy as Acting Deputy News Editor in May 2023, and became Deputy News Editor the following year.
A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She's interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB's Kate Garraway (who "loved" her trousers).
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Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
