The BBC series exploded onto screens Sunday night to a number of deaths, a foreboding ‘black moon’, and an early birth, amid news of a tough reshoot in its first scene, but the baby that popped out was actually played by six-week-old baby girl Olivia Lewis.
As fans eagerly awaited any clues about whether the baby wasn’t actually the spawn of George Warleggan (played by Jack Farthing) in the premiere of the third season, Elizabeth (Heida Reed) actually attempted to kick-start her labour one month early.
The scenes seemed to confirm the suspected truth for fans of the show, given the timing of when Ross (Aidan Turner) slept with Elizabeth and risked his tumultuous marriage to Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) at the end of season two.
Olivia’s mother Nicola Monaghan, 26, said her daughter was chosen to play the character because she was the right age and had dark hair – which is surely another sign that Valentine is secretly the son of Poldark’s leading man?
The social work student from South Wales also told The Sun that she saw the part advertised on Facebook, and decided to send in a picture of Olivia after talking to her partner James Lewis, 28.
Nicola commented on the fact that her baby was playing a character of a different sex, saying: “It’s a bit strange that she’s a girl but I suppose all babies look the same really.”
The student also said of the show’s bosses: “They wanted a baby between the ages of four to six weeks old and with dark hair.
“We sent a photo and they chose Olivia. They emailed me back and said we would like Olivia to play the part of baby Valentine.”
She added: “We had to have the council send a letter to say they approved it. Within a week we were up in Somerset, Gloucester and Bristol filming it.
“I hadn’t done anything like this before, it was really exciting but a bit nerve-wracking but Olivia was brilliant.”
The toddler is now nine-months-old, and the money her mother received for the part has been put into savings for her. Nicola even said that during filming Olivia cried on command and was a really good baby for the crew.
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