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Aidan Turner didn't exactly lie to get the lead in "Poldark," he just sort of … exaggerated. About his horsemanship, that is.

Ross Poldark is an accomplished horseman. Aidan Turner … not so much. He only had "a little bit" of experience when he was cast in the show.

"I kind of I told them I was great when I got the job," Turner said. "I was like, 'Yeah, I can do it.' And then I started to hustle really quickly and try and find someone who could teach me how to horse ride."

Because it was imperative that he look as if he knew what he was doing almost immediately when Season 1 of the "Poldark" reboot went into production.

"One of the first scenes I shot, we were on location and I was on the horse straight away," Turner said. "And with Ross, he lives on the horse, basically, so I had to get good really quick.

"So, yeah, I wasn't great. But when I started, I kind of kicked into gear. Because I had to."

The vast majority of "Poldark" viewers certainly didn't notice any equine failings in Season 1. They were, no doubt, more focused on the personal drama surrounding the lead character — a British soldier who returns from the American Revolutionary War to discover his father dead, his family estate in ruins and his fiancée, Elizabeth (Heida Reed), engaged to his cousin.

The first season of the revived series (the first version aired in the 1970s) revolved around Ross' tempestuous romance with Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), an urchin he takes in and falls in love with, and his efforts to work the mines that are his inheritance — despite the machinations of the evil George Warleggan.

Things are going quite badly for Ross and Demelza when Season 2 begins (today, 7 p.m., PBS/Ch. 7). They've lost a child. They're broke. And Ross, convicted of a crime he didn't commit, appears headed for prison or the gallows.

"They really start at rock bottom," Turner said. "They're at an all-time sort of low spot. So to start from there was very interesting to play. Straight away, we're into this kind of tempestuous, tormented phase of their lives."

And the Elizabeth-Ross-Demelza love triangle is rekindled.

"It feels like there is unfinished business [with Elizabeth], and he's idealized her for so long," Turner said. "He would have thought about her every day on the battlefields of Virginia, and to come home and to not have her, to not be able to tell her how he feels, to not be able to hold her, to marry her, to see himself living with her, it was probably very difficult. And he can't quite get over that.

"And with Demelza, I mean, he's absolutely in love with Demelza. I guess the question is — is it possible to be in love with more than one person?"

Well, it's more of a quadrangle, because Elizabeth is still married to Ross' cousin, Francis (Kyle Soller). And she actually is in love with her husband.

"I think that Elizabeth and Francis' relationship gets a hard time from viewers, but I see it a little bit differently because I think Elizabeth always loved Francis," Reed said. "It was just a different kind of love than she has for Ross."

And while Ross is a heroic figure in "Poldark," he's not a perfect hero.

"He's a heavily flawed character," Turner said. "He isn't just this legend, Robin Hood, who rides in on a horse and feeds the poor and gives work to people. I don't see him as that benevolent sort of guy.

"He seems quite real. He's the modern man to me. He's heavily flawed. He's very proud. We would almost call him today almost like a control freak sort of a guy."

Turner himself insists he's a very different guy than Ross Poldark. Although he does like his character's 18th-century outfits.

"I quite like the clothes," Turner said. "I think the clothes are flattering for the men — the waistcoats and the pants and the nice boots. And who doesn't like a tricorn hat, you know?"

Those hats are not just attractive, they're functional. "When it rains, it just sort of spills off both sides. It's like this is practical as well."

Reed said she also likes the clothes. Sort of.

"I like the way they look, but they are so uncomfortable," she said. "Corsets are the worst, yeah. I mean, they are beautiful. They give a beautiful shape, but. …"

"Nice to hold also, I find," Turner interjected.

Twitter: @ScottDPierce