Eleanor Tomlinson: Poldark actress reveals she is hesitant to film nude scenes as they are online forever

As the flame-haired beauty Demelza in Poldark, her sex scenes with co-star Aiden Turner were purposefully coy.

Now Eleanor Tomlinson, 31, has revealed why she is so reluctant to undress for her art, saying: ‘You’re opening yourself up to be screenshot… and those pictures end up online for ever.’

Eleanor, seen in a publicity shot for Channel 4’s new erotic thriller The Couple Next Door, says young actors should not be forced into nude scenes.

She says she has pushed back against producers who wanted her to expose more flesh while filming her character’s sexual encounters.

‘There are so many more interesting ways you can show this. I have done nudity before but, for me, it’s based on each project and how necessary I feel it is,’ she adds in an interview to promote the six-part series, which begins tomorrow.

And I didn’t feel like it was for this new series. I mean, there was a conversation where they were pushing for it and the harder they pushed for it, the more I felt like saying, ‘No, you’re just not being creative here’.

‘You don’t need to show everything because ultimately that immediately pauses everyone’s concentration.’

Eleanor, who says she argued for Demelza to have her iconic red hair in Poldark, rather than the dark hair described in Winston Graham’s novels, appears as Evie in the new drama. She moves with her partner Pete (played by Sam Heughan) to a suburb in Leeds – only to find themselves next door to a sexually liberated couple.