We're just 12 days away from the soundtrack for Poldark being released, but if that already seems too long to wait, you can listen to a taster of nine of the tracks and the title music on composer Anne Dudley's website
Anne says:
"The music needed to underscore the sweeping Cornish landscapes and
passionate love story. Featuring the solo violin, it is based (loosely) on the
modality found in Cornish folk music. Orchestrated for violin, harp, piano and
string orchestra with occasional electronic elements, this was a dream
job!"
Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson are working together again, this time on a biopic about Vincent Van Gogh, according to Screen Daily. The film Loving Vincent is the 'world's first animation feature' where live action is filmed, projected onto canvas, then painted in oils frame by frame in the style of Van Gogh. 60 artists are working on the project.
Aidan and Eleanor will join a cast that includes Douglas Booth, Chris O'Dowd, Jerome Flynn, Saoirse Ronan and John Sessions. The director is Dorota
Kobiela.
Principal photography on the biopic has already begun in London.
The final episode of Poldark was the most watched programme at 9 pm last night with an audience of 5.9 million (25.4% of all viewers) according to OvernightsTV. This was an increase of some half a million viewers on the previous week.
The consolidated viewing figure for episode 7 (19 April, 2015) was 6.8 million which was down from 7.2 m for episode 6. These figures exclude BBC iplayer. Episode 7 of Poldark was the fourth most popular programme on BBC1 that week after three episodes of East Enders reports Barb.
Episode 3 of Poldark aired on ABC in Australia yesterday to an audience of 567,000 in the five city metro area. This was down from 595,000 for episode 2 but it was still in the daily top 10 programmes at number 9, reports TVTonight
Last night's finale of Poldark got us all tweeting with 6,800 of us posting some 15.3 k tweets. This made it the second most tweeted about show on TV yesterday after Andrew Marr according to KantarMedia, and the seventh most tweeted about in the last week. The figures are for the number of tweets from half an hour before the show to half an hour afterwards.
This is Poldark's second best episode for tweets. Episode 4 which was followed by a twitter Q&A with Aidan Turner, recorded the highest number of tweets per episode with 7,700 individuals sending 17.9 tweets.
At last the figures for viewing Poldark on BBC iplayer are out!
In March, 2015 Poldark episode 1 earned almost 1.2 million requests. This was the most requested episode of Poldark and put it at number four in the iplayer top 20 TV episodes. Episode 3 of Poldark was in 12th place and Episode 2 in 17th place with 980,000 and 911,000 respectively. Please see the 'Notes for Figures in This Report' below.
We all know Aidan Turner has a beautiful voice and now we'll be able to hear a little bit more of it as Aidan has joined BBC Radio 4s A History of Ideas. Aidan will voice some of the animations that accompany the series talking about philosophical concepts like What Is Love? Should You Believe in Miracles? and Wittgenstein's
Beetle in a Box analogy. Aidan says, "I think
it’s a great project to be involved in. The scripts are witty, clever and very
sharp; they’re ideal for a quick hit if you want to know what some of the heavy
weights of intellectual history were about and how their ideas formed debate
and influenced the minds of future generations." Stephen Fry, Gillian Anderson and Harry Shearer have added their voices to the animations in previous series. A History of Ideas will air on BBC Radio 4 in July.
With long dark hair and a commanding presence onscreen, fourteen year-old Poldark star Seamus is finally getting some press.
His television debut in was in 2009 in Channel 4's drama 1066, and from there, the work kept coming. Seamus' film debut was in the 2011 film, Wuthering Heights, and you may also have seen him in another BBC Cornish epic, Jamaica Inn.
Did we forget to mention? Seamus is a horse!
Seamus hails from Atkinson Action Horses, a family business in East Yorkshire which supplied almost 20 horses for the eight-part series. Mark Atkinson, the proprieter of owner Atkinson Action Horses serve as horse master in charge of the equestrian action on Poldark while his son Ben Atkinson was the Aidan Turner's riding double.
Mark told The Hull Daily Mail a bit about his son's work on Poldark: "My son Ben does the tricky stuff. The reason he is Poldark's double is because Aidan is a very precious commodity and they wanted Aidan to take as few risks as possible."
"He also did a few bits and pieces as an extra. He's trained in stunt fighting and was whipped across the face by Ross Poldark in one scene."
What kinds of work did Seamus have to do? "He must have run hundreds of times along that cliff for the first series," Mark said. "He is great. Horses are born to gallop, they enjoy doing it and he thoroughly enjoyed Poldark."
Sometimes, in addition to carrying Ross Poldark (whether in the form of Aidan Turner or Ben Atkinson), Seamus also carried Demelza. Mark Explained, "Seamus has a lot of scenes where he's carrying both Aidan and Eleanor. He's very strong and sturdy and very dependable."
Seamus is now taking a much needed break before beginning work on Poldark series 2, and his costar Aidan Turner couldn't say enough nice things about working with him. "You can't do bad acting on a horse, you look too cool," he said. "There's an energy when you deliver dialogue on a horse. It's empowering, especially for Ross. He thrives on these kinds of situations, so anytime I could get on the horse I would do it.
"Seamus is quite skittish, but he's a real actor's horse as you can rehearse something once and he knows where he's at, the direction he's going in, when he has to stop and reset.
"He was so sharp and was always moving and on the go. He and Ross are well suited."
For more about Seamus and his trainers, watch the video below and read the full piece at The Hull Daily Mail.
Ross (Aidan
Turner) tries one last time to turn around the fortunes of Carnmore, but when
he is outbid he reluctantly folds the company. George (Jack Farthing) has won
and takes the opportunity to rub his face in it, showing off his new ship, the
Queen Charlotte.
Consumed with
guilt over Keren’s death, Dwight (Luke Norris) throws himself into work,
dealing with an outbreak of the putrid throat. When Ross learns that all at
Trenwith are stricken with the disease he tries to persuade Dwight to see them
- but they are Doctor Choake’s patients. Despite the estrangement Demelza
rushes to their aid.
Captain Bray (Derek Frood) Photo: Mike Alsford for BBC
Ross is
cheered to see George’s new ship being wrecked upon the rocks and leads the
local poor, many of whom are starving, in looting the contents of the ship and
exacting his revenge upon George. Look out for Captain Bray (Derek Frood) in this episode, as he may well be returning in Season 2. Synopsis: BBC
Did you know that "Demelza" only started popping up as a given name after the publication of Winston Graham's first Poldark novels?
There is some dispute over who was the very first Demelza. According to British Baby Names, the first Demelza listed on the Birth Index of England and Wales was Demelza Cotterell, born in the fall of 1951 in Penzance, Cornwall. However, in Winston Graham's autobiography, Poldark's Cornwall, the author states that Demelza Val Baker, daughter of British writer Denys Val Baker, was the first to bear the name. Interestingly, though not surprisingly, both of these supposed "first Demelzas" were born in 1951 in Cornwall.
When Poldark first aired on the BBC in 1975, it propelled the name Demelza into the spotlight and onto baby name lists.
Not surprisingly, since Poldark aired in over 40 countries worldwide, the name Demelza (or variations on the name) has even travelled overseas. Demelza (and a variant spelling, "Demelsa") can be found in Spanish birth records in the late 1970s and 1980s, and two well-known Australians--netball player Demelza Fellowes and model Demelza Reveley--share the name.
Since the new Poldark series, starring Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza, has proven to be so popular with fans, do you think we'll see a swell in the number of Demelzas being born? Would you ever consider choosing Demelza for a baby name?
Poldark was top of the audience leader board for the 9pm Sunday night slot yet again! This week Episode 7 drew 5.4 million viewers which is a 24.3% share of viewers according to OvernightsTV and very much in line with last week's figure of 5.5 million (23%).
The consolidated viewing figure for Poldark Episode 6 (12 April, 2015) was 7.19 million, up from the Easter Sunday (Episode 5) figure of 6.95m but still down on the previous week's figure (Episode 4) of 7.76m. Poldark Episode 6 was the second most popular programme on BBC1 that week, after East Enders. All figures via Barb
Episode 2 of Poldark air in Australia yesterday on ABC1. It captured an audience of 595,000
in the five city metro area, down from 649,000 last week, putting it in 11th place in the daily top 20 reports TVTonight.
Poldark was the top show for tweets in the 9-10 pm slot last night, which made it the second most tweeted programme on TV yesterday.
Last night's gripping episode notched up 8.3k tweets from some 3.8k individuals, which puts Poldark in the UK's weekly top 10 programmes at number 10. Yesterday,s top programme was The Andrew Marr Show with over 26,000 tweets. The figures for Poldark are very similar to last week's when 3.9k people generated 8.1k tweets according to Kantar Media.
Although Episode 7 was pretty draining some tweets still raised a smile.
Great acting from Garrick tonight - full range of emotions - impressive snarling, surely a BAFTA on its way #poldark@bbcone
— Bean2thecoast (@Bean2thecoast) April 19, 2015
Despite the @BBCOne warning before #Poldark my wife is traumatised by some of the scenes in which Aiden Turner kept his shirt on..
— VERTHLESS (@verthless) April 19, 2015
But most of us were...
Oh my nerves are shot after that! Next week doesn't look any better. Poor Demelza #Poldark
— Deborah O'Hare (@deborahohare27) April 19, 2015
Thanks for all your tweets. We do enjoy sharing the Poldark experience with you all.
Luke Norris is an actor and writer from Romford in Essex, best known for playing Dr Dwight Enys in the BBC’s hit drama, Poldark. After attending Redden Court School in Romford, he went to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, graduating in 2008, winning the prestigious Alan Bates Bursary in 2008. The multitalented Luke has appeared in numerous plays as an actor, as well as having a number of screen credits to his name, he has also written for theatre, film and television.
Photo Credit: Phil Sharp
To date most of Luke’s acting has been in theatre. His theatre credits include: Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (Paines Plough at Village Underground), Days Of Significance (RSC), White Boy, Fish & Co, Hold it Up (Soho Theatre for NYT), Henry V (Hackney Empire for NYT), Harvest (Lyric Hammersmith for NYT), A Puzzle (short, Royal Court), MacDonald and Son (ATC), Borough Market (Pleasance Dome), As You Like It and Hamlet (RSC); Orpheus Descending (Royal Exchange) and Antigone (National Theatre). Most recently Luke appeared in A View from the Bridge at the Young Vic, which was critically acclaimed. Luke’s theatre career hasn't all been plain sailing however. In 2009 Luke accidently received a cut lip when a stage fight with a fellow actor went wrong, whilst appearing in Days of Significance at the Lighthouse Theatre in Poole! Luckily he’s a trooper as apparently the audience didn't realise he was really hurt.
Luke in A View from the Bridge, 2015. Photo by Simon Annand Young Vic
Luke’s role in Poldarkis his first major television role, although he has a number of appearances to his name in film and television, including roles in the Titantic TV mini-series and Our World War, another mini-series, as well as appearances in The Inbetweeners, The Duchess and Skins. Poldark is his biggest role to date, as readers of the books will know his character, Dr Dwight Enys, has an important and ongoing role in the series, which is great news for Luke and his fans.
Photos copyright Hugo Glendinning
Luke is not only an actor, but a writer too, for stage and screen. His professional debut was a play, Goodbye to All That, performed at the Royal Court, Jerwood, to wide acclaim; the Telegraph commented that, ‘we’re in the presence, unquestionably, of a playwright of major promise’. His next play So Here We Are won a Bruntwood Judges Award 2013, Luke describes it as being about a group of lads in a 5-a-side football team who lose one of their number and how they deal with it, it also touches on the drawbacks of 'lad culture' for the young men involved and the relationships the friends have with each other. Luke says although the topic could be quite bleak he sees the message of the play as one of hope.
Luke talking about So Here We Are
Another play, Hearts, described as ‘aknockabout comedy about romance and the beautiful game’, is about a struggling small town football team trying to recruit players and the girls that watch them (or not) and was performed by the National Theatre Connections and the Shed Theatre at the National in 2014.
Luke talking about Hearts
Luke has also written two short films Sparks and Night of the Foxes. He is currently developing his first feature film Jesus and the Jetpack with director Lucy Tcherniak.
For the latest updates on Luke’s career follow Luke Norris News on twitter.
Ross is
struggling to keep the Carnmore smelting company afloat - and George Warleggan
is determined to crush it. George’s agents are outbidding Carnmore in order to
starve it of copper and George is trying to find ways to get to its
shareholders, who all remain secret except Ross.
After a
rockfall at Wheal Leisure Mark returns home early and finds that Keren is not
there. He tracks her to Dwight's house and discovers that they have been
sleeping together.
When Verity
runs away with Captain Blamey, Francis immediately blames Ross for helping to
arrange the scandalous elopement. Ross is furious and denies any involvement,
but Francis will not listen and the cousins break irreconcilably. George sees
an opportunity and exploits Francis’ anger until he reveals the names of the
Carnmore shareholders.
Demelza heads
to Trenwith to confess to Francis and beg him to forgive Ross, but Francis
flies into a rage and throws her out.
A new character to look out for in this episode is Captain McNeil (Henry Garrett) as he will play an important role in the second series.
If you're loving the music from the series then you'll want to know that the soundtrack from Poldark is now available for pre-order andwill be released on the Sony Classical Label on 11 May, 2015. The music is composed by Academy Award-winning composer Anne Dudley and performed by the Chamber Orchestra of London. The cd is available for pre-order from Amazon price £10.99.
Here's the tracklist:
1. The
Crossroads
2. Medhel an Gwyns
3. The Longest Walk
4. The Bal Maidens
5. An Army Against One Man
6. Theme from Poldark
7. Love of My Life
8. The Blue Dress
9. Resurgam
10. Liberty or Tyranny
11. Daring to Hope
12. Working the Quillet
13. Truth and Consequence
14. Where the Land Meets the Sea
15. The Carnmore Copper Company
16. Becoming Porcelain
17. A Seam of Ironstone
18. A Blood Red Moon
19. Copper and Tin
20. Luck of the Devil
Poldark held it's place at the top of the table for the 9 pm slot in the UK last night (12 April, 2015) with a 23% share of viewers which translates into 5.53 million people. This is 300,000 more viewers than last week's Easter Sunday offering (episode 5), though the share is very much the same (22.9% last week) (DigitalSpy)
The consolidated viewing figures for episode 5 is 6.95 million, down from 7.76m for the previous week's episode (BARB).
Poldark premiered in Australia on 12 April to an audience of 649,000 which, according to The Australian is 'well above
the season average for Broadchurch and Sherlock in the same timeslot earlier
this year'. This put it in ninth place among the top 10 programmes for Sunday 12 April, 2015.
Here's the Australian trailer for Poldark
"Wasn't he reported dead?" "Better if he had been." Who is the mysterious Ross Poldark?? Find out tomorrow, 8.40pm
Posted by ABC TV on Saturday, 11 April 2015
Hoorah! Poldark is selling well at MipTV global distribution market which is good news for international fans.
Televisual report that not only has it been sold in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, which we have reported on in the past, but in Canada too with sales to Sweden close to being finalised. The commissioning of a second season of the show and the consolidated viewing figures of 8.1 million have supported the sales.
Poldark is produced for the BBC by Mammoth Screen but ITVStudios Global Entertainment are responsible for international sales.
Poldark was fourth in the daily top five programmes on Twitter for 12 April (Episode 6) with some 3.9k people generating 8.1k tweets according to Kantar Media. Kantar record the tweets made a half hour before a programme airs to a half hour after.
Last week ( which was Easter Sunday) 3.6k people tweeted 7.6k tweets putting Poldark in third place in the daily top five programmes. Top of the tweets for Poldark though, was Sunday 29 March (Episode 4) when there were some 17.9k tweets from 7.7k tweeters. This was also the week of the #AskPoldark Q&A with Aidan Turner (Ross Poldark).
Last night there were plenty of tweets about 'bad' Ross Poldark and the wonderful Poldark women
Thanks for tuning in! I do think the 'sass award' has to go to Aunt Agatha. All she needed was 2 words. The men. Boom. nuff said. #Poldark
Poldark is one of the shows selected by Australian television to be part of a trial to bring TV programmes to people who are blind and vision impaired reports audiodescription.
Audio description is used around the world to give the vision impaired access to television. It was previously trialled in Australia in 2012. The new trial begins on ABC1 on April 14, just in time for Poldark. It will be available initially on iphones and ipads via an iview app.
Joining Poldark in the trial are New Tricks, Grantchester,
Fortitude, Redfern Now and the children’s programs Bubble
Bath Bay, Deadly 60 and The Worst Year of My Life. Poldark premieres in Australia on ABC1 on 12 April, 2015 at 8.40 pm.
