Product Details

• Actors: Robin Ellis, Angharad Rees, Clive Francis, Jill Townsend, Paul Curran
• Directors: Philip Dudley, Roger Jenkins
• Writers: John Wiles, Martin Worth
• Producers: Colin Tucker, Richard Beynon, Tony Coburn
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 6
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: September 11, 1997
• Run Time: 720 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303042562
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,065 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #8 in	Video > Boxed Sets > Drama
  #11 in	Video > Art House & International > United Kingdom > Drama
  #33 in	Video > Drama > Period Piece

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A SWEEPING, DYNASTIC SAGA SET IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CORNWALL, April 22, 2003

By	Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

My sister has always raved about the Poldark series that was shown on Masterpiece Theatre in the mid nineteen seventies. When it first became available on video, though it was expensive, she promptly bought the first set of six tapes and has yet to tire of watching them. Knowing how much I love period pieces, she urged me to watch it, telling me that she was sure that I, too, would love it. Well, she was right.

This is a first rate period piece, set in late eighteenth century Cornwall. It focuses on Ross Poldark, scion of a well known Cornish family. He is a member of the established gentry and a gentleman. Having been gone from Cornwall for a time to fight against the colonists, he returns battle scarred only to find that his father has died and left the family estate in ruins and in debt. He also finds that the love of his life, Elizabeth, believing that Ross had been killed in battle, has become engaged to his first cousin, Francis Poldark. He also discovers to his dismay that the upstart but wealthy Warleggan family, for whom Poldark has no love, is trying to buy the Poldark family mine. This mightily upsets Ross, as the Poldarks represent old money and the established gentry, while the Warleggans represent new money and are social upstarts.

As Ross Poldark tries to rebuild his estate and family fortune, he takes in a red headed, feisty, young street urchin who turns out to be a hoyden with the unlikely name of Demelza. Firmly ensconcing herself on the Poldark estate, she helps Poldark rebuild his estate, scrubbing. cleaning, all while falling in love with the brooding Ross, as he moons for Elizabeth and fends off the Warleggans who appear to conspire to ruin Poldark at every turn. A night of passion, however, finally finds Poldark looking at Demelza with new eyes, and his sense of honor compels him to marry her, little knowing that he would be getting the bargain of his life in doing so.

This is the story of Ross Poldark and Demelza, their families and friends, their loves and enemies. It is a story of sweeping proportions and a fine dynastic saga. It is also a story of the intense rivalry between the Poldarks and the Warleggans, a rivalry that would pit the scions of each of these families, Ross Poldark and George Warleggan, in a life long personal battle that nearly destroys them both. Based upon a series of books by Winston Graham, the Poldark series does honor to the author's work.

Robin Ellis is outstanding as the honorable, though brooding, Ross Poldark. When the viewer first sees him, the viewer wonders what on earth all the fuss is about. Within minutes, however, the viewer finds oneself half falling in love with his character. Angharad Rees is delightful as the feisty, impish little red head and is guaranteed to win the heart of every viewer. Robert Bates gives an affecting performance as Poldark's enemy, George Warleggan, a despicable yet, at the same time, curiously touching, individual. Jill Townsend is appropriately cool and aloof as the ever unattainable Elizabeth of Ross' dreams. Richard Morant gives a stellar performance as the kind and compassionate Dr. Enys, a close friend of Ross Poldark. The rest of the supporting cast is also quite strong and contributes to the success of this tale of romance and adventure in the Cornish countryside.

This is a video set well worth having in one's personal collection. Bravo!

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent PBS series that is vastly under-rated, February 17, 1999

By	[e-mail] (South Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

The Poldark series is vastly under-rated and in my opinion is easily the best Masterpiece Theatre series ever produced. The time period is 1780's to 1790's set in Cornwall. The scenery is magnificent and the acting is very well accomplished - with social stratification for the period intact. Capt Poldark is returning to Britain after being captured and reported to be killed in the "Colonial Wars" in America. He returns "as if from the dead" to find his former fiance now married to another man, his father dead, and sole inheritor of a family estate in great disrepair.

To make some sort of life is the task set before him. I assume that his experience with the "freedoms" in the colonies has embued him with a certain desire to try to provide a sense of social justice in his dealings with the tenants on his land and others of different social strata.

The whole story is a marvelous window back in time to a previous era in Britain, prior to the Napoleonic Wars. It is truely well worth the price for this series.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poldark, January 23, 2004

By A Customer

This is a wonderful series. I own both Poldark I and Poldark II in VHS. One reviewer from Australia indicates that it is now available on DVD down under. PLEASE release this on DVD in the US -- and hopefully not edited as the VHS edition was.