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
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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