Video: 'Poldark' S4 Filming in Charlestown

A little look at the filming of Poldark series four in Charlestown. There are glimpses of Eleanor Tomlinson (Demelza) and Luke Norris (Dwight Enys) and good shots of Aidan Turner (Ross) riding Seamus (from 1 min 10 secs).   And rain. Plenty of rain.

Thanks to Etha Mez for the video.

Vote for 'Poldark' in the National Television Awards 2018!

Congratulations! The nominations are out for the first round of the National Television Awards and Poldark, Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson are all contenders!

The NTA's are voted for by the public in two rounds and first round voting is open now. The winners will be announced at the National Television Awards ceremony at the O2 in London on 23 January, 2018. 

You can vote for Poldark in the following categories:

• Drama
• Drama Performance: Aidan or Eleanor

Follow the link to vote online

Only one vote is allowed per email address. Voting closes at 23.00 on 27 October, 2017. You can vote in as many categories as you like but can only choose one nominee in each category.  Follow the link for the Terms and Conditions and other ways to vote.

This is the long list of nominees from which a short list of up to five contenders will be drawn for second round voting in January, 2018. Votes from the long list and short list will be added together to decide the final winners, so please vote now and in January to help Poldark win.

Who can forget Aidan winning the NTA's Impact Award back in 2016? Let's make Poldark a winner again!

Vote here!

'Loving Vincent' Premiere News

With the UK premiere of Loving Vincent just around the corner we asked organisers Altitude Films some of your questions. Whether you're going to the National Gallery, watching the broadcast or simply wishing you were there, here are some things you may like to know:

• There will be no red carpet event open to the public
• The Q&A will be held in the auditorium following the screening (there were suggestions it could be in a separate room)
• There will be a Q&A video, but it’s likely to be used on the DVD/Blu-ray/Digital release, so won’t be immediately available to the public.

Aidan Turner

Loving Vincent premieres at the National Gallery on Monday 9 October The premier includes a Q&A with directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman and actors Douglas Booth (Armand Roulin) and Aidan Turner (Boatman). It will be broadcast live in cinemas and art galleries across the UK. Tickets are available here.

Eleanor Tomlinson

Loving Vincent is a  'painted animation film, looking into the mystery of Vincent van Gogh's death, told through the medium of his paintings.'  It features both Eleanor Tomlinson (Adeline Ravoux) and Aidan Turner.
Loving Vincent opens in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 13 October. A list of UK and worldwide screenings is available here.




Related links:
Loving Vincent Preview Talk
EleanorTomlinson and Aidan Turner in New Biopic

Visit to the Set of 'Poldark' Series 3 - Part Two

It's almost a year since I reported from the set of Poldark series three and, now the first episode has been shown in many countries, I thought I'd do a follow-up to the scenes I wrote about back then.

Lots of you have asked about the "s**t" moment so that seems a good place to start. The scene is the one at Nampara where the letter arrives from Geoffrey Charles (Harry Marcus) to say Elizabeth (Heida Reed) is ill. When they were filming Ross (Aidan Turner) read the note and, as he said the line 'Dr Choake cannot be found so the boy begs Dr Enys to come instead,' there was a pause and everyone on set said "s**t". It still

makes me smile! This is the scene too where Aidan felt he was 'sitting like a cowboy' and asked if he might cross his legs instead. As you can see from the screen shot, he did! The scene starts at 33 minutes on the DVD if you want to take another look.

Next up was the Enys's wedding breakfast which brought with it the problem of the puddings. The
crew had been up making puddings until 4am but, by the time they were needed, they had flopped. The problem was Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) mentioned them when praising Prudie (Beatie Edney) with the line, 'Since Jud's been away she's had time to perfect her puddings!' (at 30 mins. on the DVD). They kept the line in, however, as Debbie Horsfield felt there were dishes on the table that represented the modern understanding of the word pudding.

As the cameras rolled there were other adjustments to the scene: the actors were asked not to raise their glasses too high when toasting the happy couple as the glasses blocked their faces and - puddings again - when Prudie served Caroline (Gabriella Wilde) her pudding it created an unwanted shadow that had to be dealt with.

The episode moves on to the happenings at Trenwith and, when we next return to the wedding feast, Ross and Demelza are making their excuses to leave the table. When they were filming this scene the director, Joss Agnew, asked if one of the actors could to tell a joke before they began filming so there would be laughter when the scene started.  Of course, no-one could think of one on the spot, so they chatted happily instead!

Many of the scenes shot this day involved drinking and Ron Dowling, the stand-by props man, told me how every props man has their own secret recipe for producing something that passes realistically for alcohol on the TV screen. It's all to do with colour and viscosity and, apparently, ingredients available from an upmarket grocery store!

Ross, in particular, seemed to be drinking all the time (no surprise there). In one scene take after take he walked across the room, decanter and glass in hand until, suddenly, the solemness of the scene was broken by Aidan's laughter. He was just about to put the glass to his lips when he realised he'd only the decanter to swig out of. Somehow he'd left the glass behind! (At 35 mins on the  DVD).



A little later in the episode Dwight (Luke Norris) sends a letter to Nampara with news that both Elizabeth and Ray Penvenen are gravely ill. It is this note which led the props department to question seal or no seal? In the end the production department decided not to put a seal on the letter as this seemed most realistic given the circumstances Dwight was writing under. (38 minutes on the DVD)

On hearing Dwight's news Caroline decides she must return to her Uncle Ray. This is the scene where Caroline's dress and shoes seemed to make a disproportionate amount of noise as she moved across the room (at 39 mins. on the DVD). But, as sound engineer Ron Bailey assured me, that post-production magic makes it all just fine!



I hope you've enjoyed my insights into the filming of some of the scenes from Poldark S3. Many thanks to the cast and crew and, of course, Mammoth Screen for making this visit possible.

Related Links:
Letters Puddings and Drama: On the Set of Poldark Series3


Please remember to credit Poldarked when reposting from this article.

'Poldark' Preview Screening Brings in the Crowds

Photo: IdahoPTV

Idaho Public Television's preview screening of  Poldark series three was a huge success with them filling two movie theatres and even generating a waiting list, all within three days of the preview being announced!

Fans had fun watching the first episode of the new series and posing with a cut-out of Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner).

Teena Wright, membership director with Idaho Public Television, told IdahoPTV News, “These Masterpiece series are hugely fan-based. Many of our viewers have read all the books the series are based on and know every chapter and scene in advance. By hosting a screening in a local movie theater, IdahoPTV is able to bring together our viewers and the community for a fun public event. And thanks to our partnership with Village Cinema and The Village at Meridian, we’re able to present the screenings for free.”

Here are some pictures from the evening from Idaho PTV on facebook.

Poldark returns to PBS Masterpiece on Sunday 1 October.

Talk by Poldark's Historical Advisor Hannah Greig

Hannah Greig

Hannah Greig talks about being the historical adviser for period dramas such as Poldark, The Duchess and Death Comes to Pemberley at the open lecture As Seen on Screen.

As Seen on Screen  is at 6.30 pm on Tuesday 24 October at the University of York. The event is free but you do need to register. Find out more and register here.

Filming Starts on 'Poldark' Series Four

On Monday 4 September principal filming started on the fourth series of Poldark and it wasn't long before we had some pictures from the set.

Official Poldark kicked things off with a tweet:

And action! #Poldark Series 4 is rolling… pic.twitter.com/QePp2a2NrV

— Official Poldark (@PoldarkTV) 5 September 2017

Heida Reed (Elizabeth) followed this with a pic of herself and Aidan Turner (Ross) on her instagram

Then, while we were enjoying seeing these familiar faces, there came news of some new cast members to welcome.

Radio Times announced Rebecca Front will join the cast as the formidable Lady Whitworth, Osborne Whitworth's mother.









Official Poldark followed this by introducing Max Bennett as the nasty Monk Adderley and Louis Davison the latest Geoffrey Charles.

More #Poldark S4 casting news: the wonderful Max Bennett has been cast as the... less than wonderful Monk Adderley! pic.twitter.com/Y59YrCfDNm

— Official Poldark (@PoldarkTV) 6 September 2017

Our new Geoffrey Charles - Louis Davison! Welcome to team #Poldark. pic.twitter.com/BN38J7sCNg

— Official Poldark (@PoldarkTV) 5 September 2017

Returning to Poldark, along with the series regulars, are Josh Whitehouse (Hugh Armitage), Christian Brassington (Reverend Osborne Whitworth), Ellise Chappell (Morwenna), Harry Richardson and Tom York (Drake and Sam Carne).

It's welcome back to series three producer Michael Ray and director Joss Agnew who is joined by new director Brian Kelly (Downton Abbey).  Also returning is hair and makeup designer Pippa Woods, who did such a terrific job last time.

Mammoth Screen's executive producer Karen Thrussell says: "We were hugely gratified by the massive amount of love the audience felt for series three. We hope this will be our strongest series yet, with eight brilliant scripts from Debbie Horsfield, a whole new world of stories and our very wonderful cast."

I'm excited already!