#jbtview

to keep watching him like a hawk.  Alison Graham from Radio Times asked all the questions initially, and I agree with others who said she was a bit Series 1 focussed and of course “ The Elephant in The Room question” had to be mentioned.  Yada-yada.  We’ve moved on already.  We also already know the history of how he got the role, the story of only ever one name in the ring, that he had the scripts Fed-Ex’d over (but it was the first time I’d heard it was about 3 months after he got back from filming the Hobbit)

There was not much talk of what had gone on in series 2.  To those who follow him as slavishly as I do there was not much new to report, but that wasn’t the point.  It was the opportunity to see and hear him that counted.  I was personally glad.  I didn’t want a post-mortem on who said or didn’t say the right thing at the wrong time to the person who should have been as they were in the book.  The television series is a separate entity in my mind.  It was said again, and it can’t be said enough, this is a 21st century adaptation by a woman, from the source material written by a man in the middle of the 20th century, about a FICTIONAL set of characters in the 18th.  It changes even further between the script and the screen.

Everyone knows by now that series 4 has been announced to start filming in September. It was announced as an aside comment from Aidan as a throw away comment and there was a little ripple of applause [which I think I started].  He seemed a little surprised that he should get such a reaction.  I did seem to notice that Debbie and Damien did a little stiffening, but only for a second.  Bless him again, for going ahead of message.  Debbie’s still writing series 4 at the moment.

The audience questions seemed to try and get closer to the theme of the session which was “Ross Poldark - an old fashioned hero for a modern time (sic)” than the questions asked by Alison Graham.  But I agree that was never really addressed in any depth.  Out came the “We never called him a hero” response and well trodden explanations of the flawed, real, certainly not emotionally heroic figure. But it was my feeling that everyone already knew the answer to that one before they came.

An hour in Aidan land goes by in a fraction of the time.  I’d like to borrow the Tardis and go back again and hear it all again.  It was never ever going to be enough time for everyone to get everything they wished for.   

The best part for me were: The questions from the audience.  They knew the really important questions.

Most seemed quite shell-shocked once handed the roving microphone but all were very, very brave through their fear - and he responded to them carefully and tried to answer the whole of the (often several questions-in-one) question posed to him.  And he did it with honesty, wit, charm and as if no-one had ever asked him that question before ever.  His fingers sometimes drummed lightly on the edge of the chair arms and he tied his hair back at some point (he’s definitely done that before - whoosh and it was done).  He was much more animated answering the audience’s questions, and it was a real lottery as to who got the chance to ask their question.  But no matter, everyone stayed in their seats (pretty much) and there was no fighting, pushing or actual biting.

Congratulations to those who got their questions asked, answered, had their gifts delivered to the stage, got to the stage to deliver their gifts and in one very special case received an actual hug.  Warm fuzzy feelings all round.

He seemed to me to be saying “I am a working actor, doing the best I can with what I’ve got on the day.”  Of course I’d like to go back and play scenes differently.  I won’t be playing the same role over and over again because that doesn’t keep my interest.  I’m not going to be, or want to play socially morally responsible man in every role.  To him, his characters are complete and distinct units to each other but he can see how others can draw parallels between his different roles.  He wouldn’t mind if Ross Poldark had a beard in series 4, but from the reaction of Debbie, that ain’t never gonna happen in any universe she has any say in ever.  He’s still not too comfortable sat in front of a big picture of himself, but did ask if he could turn around and watch one of the clips on the screen [as if he needed to ask permission].  At one point he offered to take his tee shirt off for Alison Graham.  I wonder how she’s been since then?

What really struck me was the way he said goodbye to everyone. Even though he’d announced he had to go because he had a wedding to go to in Dublin, it still took him a few minutes to leave the stage.  He paid attention to those who had come forward (it wasn’t a stampede, just a polite gathering), signed the odd thing, shook a couple of hands. And then stood at the edge of the [very narrow] stage and thanked everyone for coming, did a little theatre bow with his hands together and received a very, very polite and restrained round of applause.

We didn’t see him leave.  He was gone [in a puff of smoke, I’d like to pretend], but no. Just went.  And then hellos and goodbyes were said amongst the online fans [just as long as you looked like your profile picture or someone said your name] and the fans gathered in their little pockets of preference and talked about their favourite subject for the rest of the night.

So, the burning question for a first timer is ..... how was it for you Joan?  Oh pretty much like the real thing, mostly an out of body experience with very little real recollection of each moment by moment.  But yes, when can I do it again?