Poldark

What a series! My husband and I were spellbound for the 18 or so hours (over a month) it took to watch Part 1 and 2. The plot twists are great but what is primarily so entrancing is the presentation of life at the end of the 18th Century. We particularly like Ross Poldark's propensity for going into prisons and removing prisoners who have been falsely jailed or whom he is fond of. He does this on a fairly regular basis. Cornwall seems to be very much like Seattle - only a few scenes are shot in sunshine - all in all, a sort of up-scale, historical soap-opera.

When this "mini-series" first aired in the U.S. I was in junior high school and waited eagerly for each weekly episode to air on our local PBS station. Now, as an adult, I still find it completely engrossing and entertaining, only now on my DVD whenever I desire.

"The Poldark Saga" captures the struggles of an 18th century Cornish family, both economic and social, with characters that one can grow to love and cherish. This was a ground-breaking series in the 70's, taking the action off of the sound stage, and on to location. As the series progresses, the outdoor scenes improve, adding the rugged beauty of Cornwall to the cast of characters. This is a lovely series, and highly recommended for anyone who loves a costume drama that is truly British.

Romance, drama, Cornish history including the mining, the smugglers, shipwrecks, it has it all! I own the whole series, Poldark and Poldark 2. Just finished going through them both for the second time on video plus saw the originals on TV in the seventies. Hopefully they will appear on DVD soon.

The IMDb page seemingly lists all the characters/actors, even the bit players with little or no speaking parts. Something puzzles me here: One of the more important characters was a Dr. Behenna, played by Hugh Dickson. The character appears prominently in most, if not all, episodes and his part is essential to the plot. Strangely, this character is not even mentioned by IMDb - or by Amazon. Even more strange is that a look at the IMDb page for Hugh Dickson makes no mention of his part in Poldark or Poldark 2. Anybody have an explanation?

I have been watching this series since I was a child and absolutely love it. The actors are wonderful and the drama keeps going. You really learn to love these people, or hate them as the case may be. Some drama is not appropriate for children. I rent it from my local library once a year. My husband can even stand this one. There is a lot of character development as the people mature and they diverge through several different groups and couples. You get to see love develop and change through many different relationships. I only wish they would hurry up and provide this series on DVD, one and two. You need to watch the whole series, right now it is 12 episodes of 2 hours each. I have been requesting it for years now. A definite worth the time.

This series is a welcome dramatization of the Winston Graham novels dealing with the Poldarks of Cornwall. The acting is great and the local scenery enthralling. The programs are full of adventure, intrigue, romance and also provide an interesting insight into the lives of miners at the end of the 18th century.