Rivals – a period drama that takes us to the cutthroat world of 1980s television, society and politics, as based on Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel – has a great cast (and great soundtrack) but has also done some genius location casting, too.

Enter Aidan Turner as Declan O’Hara, journalist and presenter of a brand new chat show that has him move his family from London to the fictional county of Rutshire. Their new home? Worlds collide as they drive through the gates of the beautiful Chavenage House, which starred as Trenwith in Poldark, the ancestral home of Turner’s character’s family.

Chavenage has starred in many TV shows, and is a gorgeous home with a fascinating history. It was once visited by Oliver Cromwell (then-owner Nathaniel Stephens was an MP who fought for the Parliamentary cause in the Civil War), and houses American soldiers in advance of the D-Day landings in Normandy in the Second World War.

Just like Colin Firth will be forever followed around by brilliant references to him playing Mr Darcy, I think Aidan Turner is going to have the same association as Captain Ross Poldark! (Which, coincidentally, I happen to be currently rewatching…)

Image credit: View of Chavenage House, 1817. (C) The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.