Poldark: Series 1 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews



Ever wonder what happened to British soldiers after their defeat in the American Revolution? There were no parades or fireworks on their arrival in Great Britain. In the case of Captain Poldark (Robin Ellis), his home life was completely yanked apart. No matter how hard he fought against George Washington’s crew, the folks back home are proving to be twice the enemy. Can he reclaim his estate after losing a chunk of the empire? Such was the basis for one of more popular features that ended up on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre in the mid-’70s. Poldark: Series 1 gives us the first 16 episodes based on the novel series by Winston Graham.

Poldark returns to his estate in Cornwall to discover everything has been destroyed. The house is in complete shambles. How can it get worse? His girlfriend Elizabeth (Jill Townsend) has hooked up with his cousin. She thought he died in battle and moved on with her life. Things get even more nasty when his once profitable copper mines are as bad off as the estate. The Warleggan family wants to buy the mines. However Poldark hates their guts and doesn’t want to take their much needed cash.

Further complicating things is the arrival of Demelza (Anghared Rees) into his life. She’s a waif that he busts for stealing at the fair. Instead of punishing her, Poldark gives her a chance to earn an honest living. After he gives her a transformation by scrapping off the filth from her face, they find themselves in a more physical arrangement. When she becomes pregnant, he decides that instead of doing the “proper” thing and shipping her off to America that he should marry her. With Elizabeth potentially back in his life, as well, Poldark has a lot of complications and not enough solutions.

The series is as dashing as any great period piece of this time. Robin Ellis looks the part of Poldark with his born to the manor manners yet the swagger of military man to spice up his wardrobe. His cheek scar reminds us he’s not a fancy lad. He’s stern yet concerned about his people. There’s plenty of action on horses, hills and deep inside mines. It’s easy to get comfortable in his world with such colorful characters. Poldark: Series 1 is as textured as the novel series.

Poldark Season 2 is scheduled for release on Sept. 28.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. Like many British productions of this time, the exterior locations were shot in 16mm while interiors at the soundstage were captured on video. The pixels in the video are rather obvious, but not distracting. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. The levels are quite good for a video production. The episodes have English subtitles for those who have difficulty with the accents.

Cornwall: A Place Apart is a text essay about the area. They haven’t mined the land there since 1998.

Poldark: Series 1 takes us into the world of Cornwall as a man reclaims his world. Captain Poldark fights the good fight to recover his estate, mine and heart. It’s easy to see how he was a heartthrob of the Masterpiece Theatre set.


Acorn Media presents Poldark: Series 1. Starring: Robin Ellis, Jill Townsend and Angharad Rees. Boxset Contents: 16 episodes on 4 DVDs. Released on DVD: March 2, 2010. Available at Amazon.com.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.