Aidan Turner speaks to Backstage about power dynamics and tennis in new drama Fifteen-Love
Poldark star Aidan Turner believes his new series will get audiences questioning why they choose to believe certain versions of events.
In Fifteen-Love, the actor plays a tennis coach accused of misconduct by a former player – and at first, it’s not clear who is telling the truth.
Turner told Sky News’ Backstage podcast it was something of a lesson in terms of reserving judgement.
“In our first couple of episodes we’re playing with that – where’s the truth in this relationship?” he said. “As an audience, who do we believe and on what grounds, and with no evidence who’s coming across as somebody who’s believable or not?
“Okay, just because somebody might be a little messy or chaotic in their life or whatever, and another person might have quite a subdued disposition, why is it that we go for that person as opposed to somebody else? And should we be more careful with our choices?
“Because that’s quite a dangerous thing, to make those initial judgements on somebody just because of the way they might hold themselves or conduct themselves that has actually nothing to do with the truth of what the situation is. And therein lies the trouble with this kind of situation, you know: who do we believe in, and on what basis?”
While the show is set in the world of tennis, it is really about exploring power and relationships rather than the sport itself. Turner says it reflects real-world issues, which until 2022 meant a sports coach was not bound by the same laws regarding positions of trust as, say, a teacher would have been.
“I remember the initial conversations with Hania [Elkington], our writer, and she was just explaining to me the Sexual Offences Act and how that worked, and how a person of trust with a relationship – like if you had a doctor and a patient, or a teacher and a student, that kind of thing – how that that didn’t correlate with coaches,” he said.
“So you could have a relationship with somebody you were coaching and this loophole has now been filled in but for so long this had been a huge problem that people were just not talking about for some reason, and that was really, really shocking to me.
“That’s something else I think our show does point to, is: what are the safeguards now? What are the parameters? How do we protect players? What should we expect with coaches and what isn’t right?”
Turner on set with co-star Ella Lily Hyland. Pic: Prime Video
Turner’s co-star, Ella Lily Hyland, who plays his accuser, Justine, said that seeing the spaces where tennis stars train helped her to get in to character.
“I think when you’re in those environments, you can just see it and imagine it, I guess,” she said. “And maybe that’s because we were telling that particular story so sometimes it can kind of be in your head but [there were also] countless accounts of this kind of thing, like you could research for years, really sadly.”
While Turner is perhaps best known for his leading role in the period drama Poldark, other recent characters he’s taken on have included a clinical psychologist in police drama The Suspect and Leonardo Da Vinci in a biopic series about the artist.
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But Fifteen-Love presented an opportunity he’d not had before.
“I think he’s like no other character I’ve played before, off the bat I would say that. On reading the first couple of scripts, I thought they’re really smart. I think Hania is a brilliant writer, I think there’s lots of things that she’s saying in this story that need to be said, I think it feels important and I think it’s just beautifully well-balanced with great characters.”
Plus it gave Turner an opportunity to brush up on his tennis skills – something he admits he did need.
“I’d done a bit, played a lot of badminton and I thought that would correlate, stupidly – it doesn’t, it’s an entirely different sport. They both have handles and rackets, that’s it, there’s no other comparison!
“So yeah, it was tricky, it was hard. I didn’t do quite as much training as the other guys did, but I did a bit and I was all right, I think I’m convincing as a coach… I think!”
Fifteen-Love is out on Prime Video. Hear our review in the latest episode of Backstage, the film and TV podcast from Sky News
Thousands of members of actors’ trade union Equity are being asked whether they would support industrial action over artificial intelligence protections.
The organisation has launched an indicative ballot among about 7,000 members working in film and TV.
Performers are being asked whether they are prepared to refuse to be digitally scanned on set in order to secure adequate artificial intelligence protections.
It will be the first time the performing arts and entertainment trade union has asked this whole section of its membership to vote in a ballot.
The Hollywood strikes took place in 2023. File pic: AP
The announcement follows the Hollywood strikes in 2023, when members of Equity’s sister union in the US, SAG-AFTRA, and writers, went on strike over issues including AI.
Video game actors in the US also protested over the use of AI, ending almost a year of industrial action earlier in 2025.
Equity’s ballot opens on Thursday and runs for two weeks, and will show the level of support the union has for action short of a strike.
Another statutory ballot would have to be made before any industrial action is taken.
“While tech companies get away with stealing artists’ likeness or work, and the government and decision makers fret over whether to act, unions including Equity are at the forefront of the fight to ensure working people are protected from artificial intelligence misuse,” Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming said in a statement.
“If bosses can’t ensure someone’s likeness and work won’t be used without their consent, why should performers consent to be digitally scanned in the first place?”
Mr Fleming said the ballot would give members the opportunity to “send a clear message to the industry: that it is a basic right of performers to have autonomy over their own personhood and identity”.
The union has no choice but to recommend members support industrial action, he said.
“It’s time for the bosses to step away from the brink and offer us a package, including on AI protections, which respects our members,” added Mr Fleming.
The hotly anticipated Spotify Wrapped is revealing our top tracks, artists and albums for 2025.
But how does the streaming service calculate personalised summaries of users’ listening habits and rank the UK’s hottest artists?
Here’s a look at how your data is used.
The platform describes the annual statistics as “a chance to look back on your year in sound”.
It says data is captured between January and mid-November on every account, although it mostly excludes anything streamed in private mode. (Don’t worry, your passion for the Spice Girls can be kept secret.)
Wrapped presents personalised listening statistics, which Spotify calls the “real story of your year of listening”, alongside global figures for comparison.
The streaming service says Minutes Listened reflects the actual time spent listening to audio on the platform.
Once a user streams at least 30 tracks, Spotify generates a list of Your Top Songs. Similarly, Your Top Artists ranks artists based on total minutes listening to a particular performer.
Other metrics identify the top genres users have played, as well as podcasts and audiobooks ranked by total minutes listened. And if you’ve listened to at least 70% of tracks on a record, you’ll see top albums too.
Spotify also creates Your Listening Age, a guesstimate of your age based on the era of the music “you feel most connected to”.
The streaming service says the statistic is calculated using a five-year span of music which users engaged with more than other listeners of a similar age.
Spotify has been summing up 2025’s most listened to tracks. Pic: Spotify
Swift vs Bunny
Pop superstar Taylor Swift has been named the UK’s most-streamed artist on Spotify for the third year in a row.
But she dropped out of the top spot in the global rankings, coming second to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who secured more than 19.8 billion streams. Third were The Weeknd, followed by Drake and Billie Eilish.
Bad Bunny’s LP Debi Tirar Mas Fotos was the most listened-to album worldwide.
Read more from Sky News:
Sabrina Carpenter fury at video
Drake’s lawsuit dismissed
Spotify hikes UK prices
Spotify revealed Drake was the UK’s second most-listened to artist, followed by Sabrina Carpenter in third, The Weeknd in fourth and Billie Eilish in fifth.
Despite being the most listened-to artist, Swift failed to break into the UK’s top five most listened-to songs and albums of the year.
Alex Warren’s Ordinary was the most-streamed song, and Short ‘N’ Sweet, released by Carpenter last year, the top album.
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