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!

US Preview Screenings of 'Poldark' S3 Episode 1

Poldark series three premieres in the US with a two hour episode on 1 October but some lucky fans can get to see the first hour days earlier at one of the preview screenings held by PBS stations. Follow the links to register.

WGTE Public Media is holding a screening in Toledo on Thursday 21 September, 6.30-8pm EDT with door prizes, light refreshments and station tours. This event is free.

KCTS9 in Seattle has a preview on Thursday 28 September, 6-8pm. The guest reception includes cheese and wine, swag bags, prizes and a photobooth! Tickets cost $60.

NPT in Nashville has a free screening on Thursday 28 September 6-7 pm CDT and fans can pose for pics with a life-size cut-out of Ross!

The sale has now ended for the WCTI preview in Chattanooga on 14 September

NEW ADDITIONS
IDAHO Public TV  has a free, two-hour screening in Meridian on 18 September at 7.00 pm

Basin PBS is holding a free screening in Midland, TX on Thursday 21 September, 6.30-8.00 pm CDT

Added 9 September 2017:
Wyoming PBS and #LanderLib are screening the first hour of Poldark S3 on Thursday 28 September at 6pm at Fremont County Library System-Lander

Added 12 September:
KPTS Channel 8 are holding a free Poldark S3 screening and Happy Hour event, showing the first hour of series three, on 28 September, 5.30 to 7.30 pm CDT at the Wichita Scottish Rite Centre, Wichita. They say on their facebook page that there is no need to book as they can seat 200 people, but you may like to verify this.

'Poldark' S3 Preview in Nashville

Photo: Evie Bowman for Poldarked

Here's a chance to see the first hour of Poldark series three before it airs in the US on 1 October. Nashville Public Television is holding a preview screening on 28 September at the Frist Center for Visual Arts. Entrance is free but you do need to RSVP .  And we'd love to see your pics if you pose with the life-size cut-out of Ross Poldark that will be there!!!

The event is on Thursday 28 September, 6-7pm CDT. Find out more and register here.

Other preview venues:
KCTS 9 have said they'll be holding a screening in Seattle but no details are available yet.
WTCI are holding a preview in Chattanooga. There are still spaces available for members.

Poldark S3 begins with a two hour premiere on Sunday 1 October at 8pm on Masterpiece.

Dressing the Women from 'Poldark' Review

Who doesn't love the costumes in a period drama? I know I do, so I just couldn't resist a visit to the Dressing the Women from Poldark exhibition at Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery.

The exhibition consists of nine outfits worn by Demelza, Elizabeth, Verity and Caroline in Poldark series two, with the exception of one of Demelza's dresses from series one. There's Elizabeth's wedding dress from her marriage to George Warleggan and Caroline's red riding outfit, but the dress which caught my attention most was Demelza's ball gown from Hugh Bodrugan's ball.  Had the seawater stains come out from her walk along the shore in it?  Handily, the museum supplies magnifiers so I was able to inspect it very closely and amazingly, yes, it seems they have! I could see no sign of salt water stains. There was a tiny white mark about a foot from the hem at the front of the dress, but whether that was mark from the sea water, I can't say.

The dresses are all given plenty of display space: many you can see from the side as well as front and, wonderfully, very close up. Understandably, you cannot touch them or take photos. Each outfit has a bit of information about the character, the fabrics, the scene it was worn in and the designer, which I particularly liked as there were two designers on series two (Susannah Buxton and Ros Little) and I had long wondered who had designed which costume.

Dressing the Women from Poldark is at Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery until 10 September, 2017. Entrance to the museum and the exhibition is free.
Opening times: Tuesday - Saturday: 10.30am - 4.30pm
Sunday: 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Closed Mondays except Bank Holiday Monday open 10.30am - 4.30pm

There is car parking close by and the museum is about a ten minute walk from the railway station.

Here's a little taste of what you can see:

Demelza's  luxurious red and black floral ball gown from Poldark series two.

Elizabeth's wedding outfit from her marriage to George.

The dress worn by Caroline when she visits Dwight the night before he leaves for the Navy.

The yellow striped dress which was one of Demelza's main outfits in Poldark series one.

Caroline's riding suit which she wears when Dwight thanks her for the oranges for the villagers.







Dressing the Women from Poldark is specially put together by the costumers Cosprop for Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery and, sadly, is not a touring exhibition.

Viewing Figures for 'Poldark' Series 3

Photo: BBC One

The Poldark series three finale brought in the viewers with 6.1 million of us tuning in to find out how things would work out for Ross and Demelza. The seven day consolidated figures from Barb (which do not include BBC iPlayer) show episode nine was the second most popular programme on BBC One in the week of 31 July to 6 August, with Eastenders at 6.3m pipping it to the top slot.

Scriptwriter Debbie Horsfield told RadioTimes.com: “I think it has held its own over the summer.

“The thing about the English weather is it’s so terrible and it’s still raining outside anyway so people stay in to watch TV. Everyone’s pleased with the viewing figures and so many people are watching."

Poldark S3 consistently won the overnights 9pm slot grabbing up to 25% of viewers on Sunday nights. 

The premiere was the most watched episode of the series with an audience of 6.7 m. At 5.9m episode 4 was the least watched. Over the whole series Poldark averaged an audience of 6.1m. This compares to 7.6m for S1 and 6.4m for S2 (7 day consolidated figures).

BBC sources suggested to the Radio Times that: '...executives were so pleased with Poldark's performance for series three that they plan to repeat the summer scheduling experiment next year.'

Well done Poldark!

Postscript:  Poldark S3 has been airing in Australia too, just a week behind the UK. Last night's finale garnered an audience of 551k, the best of any episode since series one!  So once more - well done Poldark!

Many thanks to @veras67  on Twitter for her regular help with the figures from Australia.

Related links:
Viewing Figures for 'Poldark' S3 Premiere
Watching 'Poldark' - BBC iPlayer

'Poldark' DVD is an Amazon Best Seller

Poldark series three DVD is on Amazon's best seller list and it hasn't even been released yet!

The DVD, which is due for release in the UK on Monday 14 August, comes with lots of special features according to Entertainment Focus and DVD365.  These include cast interviews, romantic relationships, the making of Poldark, behind the scenes and a double helping of something we all enjoy: cast audio commentary on episodes five and nine.

You can order Poldark S3 DVD now on Amazon price £17.99 (£19.99 for Blu-ray).

'Poldark' - It's the Tweetest Thing

The finale of Poldark series three really got us talking if Twitter is anything to go by.

Poldark trended last Sunday with 69% more Tweets than the average for this series. Fans live-tweeted during the episode but the peak minute for Tweets was just after it ended with 161 Tweets posted at 10.08 pm.

Kantar Media says: Ross, Demelza and George were the most Tweeted about characters but actress Heida Reed had the most mentioned handle. Most [Tweets] were praising the acting and writing, and 'Admiration' was detected in 36% of these posts. Poldark's strong Twitter following didn't disappoint, with 8.3K Tweets posted by 3.1K Unique Authors on Sunday.