He’s back... but have we hit peak Poldark ogling?
Poldark returned for a fourth series and ross (aidan Turner) wasted no time in peeling off his shirt, perhaps thinking jeez, I might as well get this over with. The very first scene found our tinmining hero topless on a beach in Cornwall, emerging from the surf in a salt spray of picaresque testosterone. across the land, women put down their beakers of rose, their sense and sensibility and thought, well hello old friend.
For sightings of Captain Poldark’s bare chest are becoming a seasonal event, like pumpkins at Halloween or sugared eggs at Easter. and in truth, there in the hills and valleys of his sculpted torso lurks a passing resemblance to both those things.
The question is, as the BBC obligingly serves up another slice of prime Sunday night beefcake, have we reached peak Poldark ogling? or should ross just go with the flow, stick some jewelled adornments on his nipples and can-can through the waves shouting: ‘How do you like them Cornish pasties, missus?’
Still, this is a serious drama and there was a serious reason for his semi-naked swim, ahem. ross had plunged into the briny to purge some dark thoughts from his mind, the spiritual equivalent of power-hosing the potting shed after a long winter.
Speaking of potting, he has clearly discovered that his wife demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) had a tryst with posh war hero Hugh armitage (Josh Whitehouse). You might remember that the last series ended with the pair of them clinging together in the dunes, like a couple of quivering sand crabs. Hugh persuaded her to sleep with him because he was going blind and would feel better about this if he could ‘go into the darkness knowing I have once tasted heaven’.
And she fell for it, particularly as he keeps sketching her and writing poems about her beauty, while ross just busies himself being noble, trying to stop the peasantry from starving or being killed, and occasionally scything topless or swimming naked. What is his problem?
The good news? all the elements that have made Poldark such a hit are still in place. The drenching romance of it all, the luscious Cornish scenery and the brilliant cast remain irresistible.
and tremendous credit to debbie Horsfield, whose lean and clever scripts manage to stay true to the Winston Graham books without cluttering up each scene with screeds of wordy dialogue.
The bad news is the bad news, which is unrelenting. How we yearn for a spark of fun or an upturn in the Poldark family fortunes, but series four finds everyone living once more in ‘uncertain times’ as a tide of bleak washes over Cornwall.
There is unrest in the village, the riot act is being read in Truro, the candles are guttering at nampara while men are stationed at the gates of Trenwith. There, Elizabeth (Heida reed) seems to be putting something in husband George Warleggan’s (Jack Farthing) wine. Perhaps it is the Essence de
Stupide, because she has somehow managed to persuade the dolt that her son Valentine is his, despite the boy’s inky head of boyband ringlets which suggests otherwise.
Trouble bubbles everywhere, as the Poldark men duke it out in courtrooms and docksides.
Meanwhile the Poldark womenfolk stare into fires, they gaze at the waves, they fiddle with their shell bracelets, they get their hems wet as they trudge the shoreline, looking for answers.
demelza does more of that dough-slapping angry baking and has a cryptic conversation with ross about loving two people.
More bad times – and bad poetry – are clearly a-coming her way.