(This review may contain spoilers).
I have to say… historical drama is not the sort of genre that normally interests me. But I liked Aidan Turner in Being Human and the Hobbit movies… and when I glimpsed him as Poldark in a TV magazine, I was instantly intrigued. So I decided to watch the first episode and see what it was like… and then I was instantly hooked.
I found Ross Poldark to be a really intriguing character. His relationships and friendships with the other characters came across really well. I felt he seemed to really care about the people who worked and lived on his land.
I also particularly liked Demelza as a character. Her relationship with Ross came across really well and I did think it was really good that people did talk and react to the fact that Ross had married someone who, in those days, wouldn’t have been seen as marriageable material for someone of his class.
At first in the series, I did like Francis as a character. As the episodes went on, though, I liked him even less. He came across as a fairly weak character and I didn’t like the way he treated Elizabeth, who I did end up liking, despite being somewhat more hesitant of her at first.
I would have liked to see a bit more of the family before things started going badly. There were some hints of a close relationship between Ross and Francis and I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more exchanges between them before things went sour.
I did feel sorry for Verity in this series. I liked her as a character and even though I felt Demelza was being naive when it came to Verity’s situation, I found it really easy to empathise with her.
I did feel that this series seemed to be mostly historical accurate. I can’t speak for how close it was to the original series or the books, but I still found myself drawn into this television series. I wasn’t too impressed that it was only eight episodes, I have to say. I would have liked the series to be expanded a bit.
This first series did end on a cliffhanger, which has piqued my interest in watching series two. I am also interested in reading the books this series (and the previous television series) is based on.
