When Mr Darcy dived into a pond in Pride and Prejudice, millions of women swooned.

Ten years later Colin Firth has got serious competition at last. It's in the 6ft 2 in shape of Midlands actor Richard Armitage, who played Victorian cotton mill owner John Thornton, in the BBC period drama North and South.

For good measure, April 10th also sees Richard appearing in ITV's comedy thriller Malice Aforethought.

Richard Armitage stars as John Thornton, in the BBC period drama North and South Richard's smouldering turn as Thornton - the archetypal hard man with a heart of gold - attracted seven million viewers and created an 'Armitage Army' of devoted fans.

They started an internet campaign to get the series released on DVD and prompted the BBC to open a special website that attracted tens of thousands of messages.

Since then several new fan sites have sprung up dedicated to the 33-year-old actor's charms, but the man himself remains modest about the whole experience and reckons his popularity has come as a bit of a shock.

He went straight from shooting North and South to filming Malice Aforethought, the tale of a murderous doctor, set in the 1920s.

You can catch it on ITV, April 10, 9pm

Published: 08/04/2005