Starting off smouldering as a redcoat in the American War of Independence where he "volunteered" to avoid being hanged back home in Cornwall,Ross Poldark (Mr A.Turner) continues much in the same vein on his return to find his inheritance gone and his fiancée appropriated by his rather wet cousin. He is man apart from his Cornish pals due to him having gone to a posh school and everything and feels like a square peg in a round hole living in a run - down bothy with two recalcitrant servants. On a visit to town to sell his watch he saves a young girl from a beating and takes her to a tavern where she exhibits shockingly bad manners;despite this he offers her a place at his pigsty,where,in short order she turns out to be a damned attractive young lady. She is called Demelza and is played with relish by Miss E.Tomlinson. Her Pa and her brothers come to take her back but are beaten off by Ross and his homies,this gives Mr Turner further opportunities to smoulder with a bloody nose to boot. His former fiancée realises she has made a terrible mistake,but she's obviously mistaken him for someone who gives a toss and he rides off with Demelza into episode two. I really enjoyed this new "Poldark" because it does post - modern irony which of course hadn't been invented forty years ago when it had it's first incarnation. It is a deliberate exercise in myth - building with Poldark himself set to be the next Mr Darcy. There are dog - fights,cock - fights and bloke - fights enough for anybody and Mr Turner cuts a suitable dash to ensure the next few Sunday nights will be accompanied by a couple of cans of lager and some Pringles. So it's off the blocks and running,then,for the Beeb's next Big One. Forget the politically - motivated "Banished" and watch this for the sheer fun of it.
Review of Poldark
