Poldark actress says Me Too movement must stop talking about change and start delivering it

Eleanor Tomlinson, who plays Demelza in the BBC’s Poldark, has added her voice to the growing chorus of actresses demanding action, not “another speech about it”, in the wake of the #MeToo movement and allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

Her demand would appear to carry added weight given that she has recently finished work on Ordeal by Innocence, the Agatha Christie special that was originally destined to be broadcast last Christmas.

However, rape claims made in the US against former co-star Ed Westwick - who has strenuously denied the allegations - led to him being dropped in favour of Christian Cooke.

Tomlinson and Cooke will now appear alongside Bill Nighy from Easter Sunday, when the hastily rescheduled programme finally airs on BBC1, after 35 scenes were reshot over 12 days.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Tomlinson said: “I have been incredibly lucky. My parents are actors, they’ve been the safety blanket around me. But it doesn’t mean I haven’t been aware of stuff happening. And it is rotten.

“But I think now is the time for change — because I for one will not stand in an industry where I don’t feel safe or other women around me don’t feel safe. If there’s a woman who’s less experienced, I always make a point of befriending her so she has someone to talk to — I remember what it was like at 19 on the set of Jack the Giant Slayer.”

Tomlinson, who added that this was “not man-hating”, added: “I don’t want to hear another speech about it, I don’t want to see another tweet about it. I want it to be put into action.

“I want to see some scripts written by women and projects being directed by women”.

Ordeal by Innocence is adapted from Christie’s 1958 novel of the same name, and follows the aftermath of the death of a wealthy heiress and her adopted son’s wrongful arrest for her murder.

The story was first filmed in 1984, in a version that starred Donald Sutherland, Faye Dunaway, and Christopher Plummer.

It also appeared as an episode of Agatha Christie’s Marple on ITV in 2007, starring Geraldine McEwan, Juliet Stevenson, and Reece Shearsmith.

Plummer was himself called in to replace Kevin Spacey in All The Money In the World, director Ridley Scott’s study of British-American billionaire John Paul Getty’s refusal to pay a ransom after his grandson was kidnapped.