A RAY OF HOPE FOR SLEAZY FRANCIS

Poldark may have his problems, but so do his wider clan. Not least Ross’s cousin Francis, played by Kyle Soller, whose downward spiral began in the first series. ‘Throughout series one his own insecurities and the clear attraction his wife Elizabeth and Ross had for each other got the better of him,’ says Kyle. ‘He attempts to patch things up with Ross but it doesn’t turn out well. He’s in a very bad place.’

Meanwhile his relationship with his sister Verity is at its lowest ebb after she eloped with disgraced sailor Captain Blamey. ‘Francis tells her as long as she’s married to an alleged wife murderer she’s out of the family. But as a result of all this there’s a sort of rebirth for Francis. He eventually stops battling his demons and starts to take control of his own fate. There’s hope for him.’

New characters include Ray Penvenen, one of Cornwall’s most powerful landowners, who comes to the aid of Ross and Demelza. Played by Bergerac star John Nettles (see page 6), he has charge of his orphaned niece Caroline, played by Gabriella Wilde. Born Gabriella Zanna Vanessa Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, she’s Prince Harry’s ex Cressida Bonas’s half-sister and best pal, and is rumoured to have once been on Harry’s radar. In the show she plays a total minx who’s not afraid to use her beauty and brains to get what she wants. Then there’s Unwin Trevaunance (W1A’s Hugh Skinner), who has ambitions to become the local MP so that Caroline will marry him.

Kyle Soller as Francis Poldark