Poldark
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50 free Poldark trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Poldark has been a Sunday-night obsession twice over. The story of Ross Poldark, a soldier who comes home to a ruined estate and a lost love, gripped Britain in the 1970s and again from 2015, and the feud between Ross and George Warleggan still gets viewers taking sides. This quiz leans on the characters, because that is what fans remember best: who married whom, who betrayed whom, and who met a sticky end. Around them are questions on the plot of the modern series, the actors in both BBC versions, the filming locations and the novels that started it all. It opens gently enough for anyone who watched for the scenery and gets harder as it goes, so long-time readers of the books will still find questions that make them stop and think.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which novelist created Ross Poldark in a saga of twelve books published between 1945 and 2002?
Winston Graham
Winston Graham published the first four books between 1945 and 1953, then set the saga aside until 1973.
Q 02Which Irish actor, the dwarf Kíli in The Hobbit films, plays Ross Poldark in the 2015 BBC series?
Aidan Turner
Aidan Turner came to the role after three series as the vampire Mitchell in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human.
Q 03The 1975 Poldark was such a hit that some vicars reportedly rescheduled what to avoid a clash?
Church services
Church services were moved or even cancelled in some parishes rather than clash with an episode of the BBC serial.
Q 04Which job does Ross Poldark give the runaway Demelza Carne after meeting her at a market?
Scullery maid
Scullery maid is her starting point at his run-down house, and four years later the two are married.
Q 05The creator of Poldark also wrote which 1961 thriller, filmed by Alfred Hitchcock with Tippi Hedren?
Marnie
Marnie reached cinemas in 1964 with Sean Connery opposite Hedren, and Hitchcock moved its setting from England to the United States.
Q 06Captain Ross Poldark comes home to Cornwall in 1783 after fighting for Britain in which war?
American War of Independence
American War of Independence fighting in Virginia left him wounded, and he returns to find his father dead and his sweetheart engaged.
Q 07Which metal is Ross Poldark hoping to strike when he reopens his late father's derelict mine?
Copper
Copper is finally struck at Wheal Leisure in the same episode in which Demelza tells Ross she is pregnant.
Q 08Which actor, Ross Poldark in the 1975 BBC series, returned in the 2015 version as Reverend Halse?
Robin Ellis
Robin Ellis went on to a second career as a cookery writer, publishing a book of recipes for people with diabetes in 2011.
Q 09George Warleggan, Ross Poldark's rival, belongs to a newly rich family known for which business?
Banking
Banking gives the Warleggans their hold over Cornwall's gentry, and George uses it to call in the debts of Ross's business partners.
Q 10Why did the novelist behind Poldark try to have the BBC's first 1975 series cancelled?
Its portrayal of Demelza
Its portrayal of Demelza as promiscuous in the early episodes appalled him, but he found he had no power to stop the broadcasts.
Q 11Which actress, Princess Isabelle in Jack the Giant Slayer, plays Demelza in the 2015 Poldark series?
Eleanor Tomlinson
Eleanor Tomlinson had appeared two years earlier in the BBC's The White Queen, as Lady Isabel Neville.
Q 12What is the name of the run-down Cornish farmhouse that Ross Poldark inherits from his father?
Nampara
Nampara is far humbler than Trenwith, the Tudor mansion that belongs to the senior branch of the family.
Q 13In Poldark, who elopes with the disgraced sea captain Andrew Blamey, helped in secret by Demelza?
Verity
Verity is Ross's cousin, and her brother Francis blames Ross for the elopement and cuts off the family.
Q 21Which wealthy heiress marries Dr Dwight Enys in Poldark, against the early wishes of her rich uncle?
Caroline Penvenen
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.
Q 22Which trade does Ross Poldark set up for Demelza's lovelorn brother Drake Carne?
Blacksmith
Blacksmith is the fresh start Ross gives him after the woman he loves marries a clergyman to free him from a false theft charge.
Q 23Sam Carne, Demelza's devout brother in Poldark, leads a flock from which religious movement?
Methodist
Methodist zeal gets Sam and his followers barred from worship in the village by George, so Demelza lends them a barn to meet in.
Q 14In which country is Dr Dwight Enys held prisoner until Ross Poldark leads a raid to free him?
France
France had captured his navy ship, and the rescue that Ross leads costs the life of Captain Henshawe.
Q 15What kills Francis Poldark soon after he and his cousin Ross become partners in Wheal Grace?
Drowning
Drowning in a pool deep inside the mine ends his life not long after the two cousins had made their peace.
Q 16Which office does Ross Poldark win in the fourth series, narrowly beating George Warleggan?
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament is a post Ross had earlier refused from two rival patrons, dismissing those who held it as puppets.
Q 17On video, the 1975 Poldark outsold every costume drama except which 1995 Jane Austen adaptation?
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice alone sold more, and the 1975 serial was bought by broadcasters in over forty countries.
Q 18US viewers saw the 2015 Poldark on PBS as part of which long-running strand?
Masterpiece
Masterpiece had also carried the 1975 version across the Atlantic in 1977, when the strand was still called Masterpiece Theatre.
Q 19On which real person did the creator of Poldark partly base the character of Demelza?
His wife
His wife Jean, whom he married in 1939, also often helped him with ideas for the books.
Q 20Before acting, the Irish star of the 2015 Poldark placed third in a national championship in what?
Ballroom dancing
Ballroom dancing came before a short spell as an apprentice electrician alongside his father, and only then drama school in Dublin.
Q 24Whose hundredth-birthday party does George Warleggan cancel in Poldark on learning she is only 98?
Aunt Agatha
Aunt Agatha takes her revenge at once, telling George that he is not the father of Elizabeth's son, and dies shortly afterwards.
Q 25Which disease, known in Poldark as the putrid throat, kills Ross and Demelza's first child?
Diphtheria
Diphtheria reaches Demelza's own home after she nurses Francis, Elizabeth and their young son through it at Trenwith.
Q 26Ross Poldark is arrested at the end of the first series after which event on his beach?
A shipwreck
A shipwreck brings starving mine workers down to scavenge the cargo, and the lost vessel belongs to the Warleggans.
Q 27In which English city, far from Cornwall, was the creator of the Poldark novels born in 1908?
Manchester
Manchester was his home until he was 17, when the family moved to the Cornish coast, where he lived for 34 years.
Q 28Heida Reed, who plays Elizabeth in the 2015 Poldark, was born and raised in which country?
Iceland
Iceland is where she grew up, in Reykjavík, before spending two years as a model in India and then training in London.
Q 29Which actor, later Prince Charles in the film Spencer, plays George Warleggan in the 2015 Poldark?
Jack Farthing
Jack Farthing studied history of art at Oxford before drama school, and had played Freddie Threepwood in the BBC comedy Blandings.
Q 30What is the name of Demelza's dog, which comes with her when Ross Poldark first takes her in?
Garrick
Garrick is the reason the pair meet in the 2015 series, when Ross stops ruffians from taking the dog for a fight.