50 Fun Facts About Poldark

Which novelist created Ross Poldark in a saga of twelve books published between 1945 and 2002?

Winston Graham published the first four books between 1945 and 1953, then set the saga aside until 1973.

Which Irish actor, the dwarf Kíli in The Hobbit films, plays Ross Poldark in the 2015 BBC series?

Aidan Turner came to the role after three series as the vampire Mitchell in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human.

The 1975 Poldark was such a hit that some vicars reportedly rescheduled what to avoid a clash?

Church services were moved or even cancelled in some parishes rather than clash with an episode of the BBC serial.

Which job does Ross Poldark give the runaway Demelza Carne after meeting her at a market?

Scullery maid is her starting point at his run-down house, and four years later the two are married.

The creator of Poldark also wrote which 1961 thriller, filmed by Alfred Hitchcock with Tippi Hedren?

Marnie reached cinemas in 1964 with Sean Connery opposite Hedren, and Hitchcock moved its setting from England to the United States.

Captain Ross Poldark comes home to Cornwall in 1783 after fighting for Britain in which war?

American War of Independence fighting in Virginia left him wounded, and he returns to find his father dead and his sweetheart engaged.

Which metal is Ross Poldark hoping to strike when he reopens his late father's derelict mine?

Copper is finally struck at Wheal Leisure in the same episode in which Demelza tells Ross she is pregnant.

Which actor, Ross Poldark in the 1975 BBC series, returned in the 2015 version as Reverend Halse?

Robin Ellis went on to a second career as a cookery writer, publishing a book of recipes for people with diabetes in 2011.

George Warleggan, Ross Poldark's rival, belongs to a newly rich family known for which business?

Banking gives the Warleggans their hold over Cornwall's gentry, and George uses it to call in the debts of Ross's business partners.

Why did the novelist behind Poldark try to have the BBC's first 1975 series cancelled?

Its portrayal of Demelza as promiscuous in the early episodes appalled him, but he found he had no power to stop the broadcasts.

Which actress, Princess Isabelle in Jack the Giant Slayer, plays Demelza in the 2015 Poldark series?

Eleanor Tomlinson had appeared two years earlier in the BBC's The White Queen, as Lady Isabel Neville.

What is the name of the run-down Cornish farmhouse that Ross Poldark inherits from his father?

Nampara is far humbler than Trenwith, the Tudor mansion that belongs to the senior branch of the family.

In Poldark, who elopes with the disgraced sea captain Andrew Blamey, helped in secret by Demelza?

Verity is Ross's cousin, and her brother Francis blames Ross for the elopement and cuts off the family.

In which country is Dr Dwight Enys held prisoner until Ross Poldark leads a raid to free him?

France had captured his navy ship, and the rescue that Ross leads costs the life of Captain Henshawe.

What kills Francis Poldark soon after he and his cousin Ross become partners in Wheal Grace?

Drowning in a pool deep inside the mine ends his life not long after the two cousins had made their peace.

Which office does Ross Poldark win in the fourth series, narrowly beating George Warleggan?

Member of Parliament is a post Ross had earlier refused from two rival patrons, dismissing those who held it as puppets.

On video, the 1975 Poldark outsold every costume drama except which 1995 Jane Austen adaptation?

Pride and Prejudice alone sold more, and the 1975 serial was bought by broadcasters in over forty countries.

US viewers saw the 2015 Poldark on PBS as part of which long-running strand?

Masterpiece had also carried the 1975 version across the Atlantic in 1977, when the strand was still called Masterpiece Theatre.

On which real person did the creator of Poldark partly base the character of Demelza?

His wife Jean, whom he married in 1939, also often helped him with ideas for the books.

Before acting, the Irish star of the 2015 Poldark placed third in a national championship in what?

Ballroom dancing came before a short spell as an apprentice electrician alongside his father, and only then drama school in Dublin.

Which wealthy heiress marries Dr Dwight Enys in Poldark, against the early wishes of her rich uncle?

Caroline Penvenen first calls him out to treat her pet dog, and later secretly lends Ross the money that keeps him out of debtors' prison.

Which trade does Ross Poldark set up for Demelza's lovelorn brother Drake Carne?

Blacksmith is the fresh start Ross gives him after the woman he loves marries a clergyman to free him from a false theft charge.

Sam Carne, Demelza's devout brother in Poldark, leads a flock from which religious movement?

Methodist zeal gets Sam and his followers barred from worship in the village by George, so Demelza lends them a barn to meet in.

Whose hundredth-birthday party does George Warleggan cancel in Poldark on learning she is only 98?

Aunt Agatha takes her revenge at once, telling George that he is not the father of Elizabeth's son, and dies shortly afterwards.

Which disease, known in Poldark as the putrid throat, kills Ross and Demelza's first child?

Diphtheria reaches Demelza's own home after she nurses Francis, Elizabeth and their young son through it at Trenwith.

Ross Poldark is arrested at the end of the first series after which event on his beach?

A shipwreck brings starving mine workers down to scavenge the cargo, and the lost vessel belongs to the Warleggans.

In which English city, far from Cornwall, was the creator of the Poldark novels born in 1908?

Manchester was his home until he was 17, when the family moved to the Cornish coast, where he lived for 34 years.

Heida Reed, who plays Elizabeth in the 2015 Poldark, was born and raised in which country?

Iceland is where she grew up, in Reykjavík, before spending two years as a model in India and then training in London.

Which actor, later Prince Charles in the film Spencer, plays George Warleggan in the 2015 Poldark?

Jack Farthing studied history of art at Oxford before drama school, and had played Freddie Threepwood in the BBC comedy Blandings.

What is the name of Demelza's dog, which comes with her when Ross Poldark first takes her in?

Garrick is the reason the pair meet in the 2015 series, when Ross stops ruffians from taking the dog for a fight.

Which Poldark governess is pushed by George Warleggan into marrying Reverend Osborne Whitworth?

Morwenna agrees to the match only to win the release of Drake Carne, the man she loves, from a false charge of theft.

For which crime is young Jim Carter jailed in Poldark, despite Ross pleading in court for leniency?

Poaching pheasants earns him two years, and he dies of jail fever after Ross and Dr Enys break him out to treat him.

What do Ross and Demelza Poldark name their first child, the daughter who dies as a toddler?

Julia has two christening parties in the novels, one for the gentry and one for the common folk, at her mother's insistence.

Where did the creator of Poldark say he found the unusual first name Demelza?

A Cornish hamlet called Demelza, in the parish of St Wenn, gave him the name, and a fellow writer's daughter was the first child named after her.

Which Welsh actress played Demelza in the BBC's original 1975 Poldark and later designed jewellery?

Angharad Rees appeared in all but the first episode, and later founded a jewellery company in Knightsbridge under her own first name.

Kyle Soller, Francis in the 2015 Poldark, later played Syril Karn in which Star Wars series?

Andor brought him wider fame after his stage work had already won him the 2019 Olivier Award for Best Actor.

The interiors of Ross Poldark's home were built at The Bottle Yard Studios in which city?

Bristol also housed the costume and prop workshops, and by the fourth series the studio held a scale replica of the House of Commons.

Which real Prime Minister gives Ross Poldark advice over lunch in the fourth series, set in 1799?

William Pitt takes notice of Ross's proposal to help the poor survive a food shortage.

In the later Poldark novels, Ross and Demelza's son Jeremy is killed in which famous battle?

Waterloo leaves Cuby Trevanion, the woman he had eloped with, a pregnant widow.

Beatie Edney, Heather MacLeod in Highlander, plays which housekeeper in the 2015 Poldark?

Prudie stays with Ross and Demelza through all five series, while her husband Jud disappears from the story after the second.

Which poetic naval lieutenant, a nephew of Lord Falmouth, woos Demelza in Poldark's third series?

Hugh Armitage is one of the prisoners Ross frees alongside Dr Enys, and failing eyesight ends his naval career before his early death.

Which captain dies after a duel with Ross Poldark in London, having bet he could seduce Demelza?

Monk Adderley makes the wager with George Warleggan at a masked ball, and Ross too is wounded in the duel that follows.

Which real colonel, hanged for treason in 1803, is Ross Poldark's friend in the final series?

Edward Despard had fought beside Horatio Nelson in 1780, and Nelson spoke up for his character at the real trial.

Which Oscar-winning composer of The Full Monty, once of Art of Noise, wrote the 2015 Poldark theme?

Anne Dudley also served as music producer on the 2012 film of Les Misérables, arranging the score and adding new music of her own.

Which screenwriter created the 2015 Poldark and is credited with writing every episode?

Debbie Horsfield was known for the BBC's hair-salon drama Cutting It, and for the fifth series she devised a story found in none of the novels.

Which Poldark novel, published in 1973 after a long gap, covers the birth of Valentine Warleggan?

The Black Moon takes its title from the lunar eclipse on the day the boy is born, a real one seen from Britain in February 1794.

Which musical youngest daughter of Ross and Demelza gives her name to the last Poldark novel?

Bella is short for Isabella-Rose, and her book appeared in 2002, a year before its author's death at 95.

Before settling on Poldark, its creator named his hero after a chemist friend with which surname?

Polgreen did not sound strong or mysterious enough for the character, so he darkened the ending and coined a surname of his own.

Which coastal mine near St Just, now World Heritage, plays Wheal Leisure in the 2015 Poldark?

Botallack had already appeared in the BBC's 1975 version, when a farm there served as Ross's home.

Which Gloucestershire manor near Tetbury doubles as Trenwith in the 2015 Poldark series?

Chavenage House also appeared in Lark Rise to Candleford and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and Pevsner's guide calls it the ideal sixteenth-century Cotswold stone manor house.