Poldark Episodes 1 and 2 News

Here's the BBC's programme information for the first two episodes of Poldark.

Photo: BBC

Episode 1/8
Sunday 8 March 9-10 pm

Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) joins the army to avoid charges of smuggling. He goes to fight in the American War of Independence, leaving behind his sweetheart, Elizabeth (Heida Reed), with the promise that he will return soon. Three years later, wounded and scarred, Ross returns home to discover that his father has died, his estate is in ruins and Elizabeth is set to marry his cousin Francis (Kyle Soller).

Elizabeth and Francis are married. Ross is surprised to see that callous banker George Warleggan (Jack Farthing) is at the groom's side. Ross’s uncle, Charles Poldark (Warren Clarke) thinks that it would be better for the newlyweds if Ross were to leave Cornwall and he offers to pay for Ross to make a fresh start elsewhere.

Ross stubbornly refuses, determined to rebuild his family estate, Nampara. With only the help of his father’s useless servants, Jud and Prudie (Phil Davies and Beatie Edney), Ross takes on a new kitchen-maid, Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), after he rescues her from a beating.

Photo: BBC

Episode 2/8

Sunday 15 March 9-10 pm

  

When the local mine Wheal Reath is closed, hundreds of miners, including Jim (Alexander Arnold), find themselves out of work and desperately poor. Ross (Aidan Turner), having repaired the family home of Nampara, now employs Jim as a farm-hand, and thinks to resurrect his family’s mine (Wheal Leisure) with the hope of bringing prosperity to the area again.

Meanwhile, Verity (Ruby Bentall) asks Ross to accompany her to a ball at the Assembly Rooms, where she meets and falls in love with Captain Andrew Blamey (Richard Harrington). However, Blamey is hiding a dark secret that Verity's brother Francis (Kyle Soller) and father Charles (Warren Clarke) are horrified to discover.

Ross, with the help of mine Captain Henshawe (John Hollingworth) and willing investor Horace Treneglos (Michael Culkin), manages to convince banker and friend, Harris Pascoe (Richard Hope) that Wheal Leisure is a viable business.
But it is Ross' intimate dance with Elizabeth (Heida Reed) that causes a stir at the ball and gives the other guests a reason to gossip.