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16 Episodes 1975 - 1976
Episode 1
Sun, May 8, 197751 mins
Believed dead Ropss Poldark returns from the American Revolutionary War to Nampara,his house in Cornwall,now dilapidated and in the care of drunken married retainers Jud and Prudie Paynter. Ross's father has died,leaving many debts and the family copper mine, Wheal Leisure,is to be sold by Ross's uncle Charles to the wealthy Warleggan family to raise funds. However Ross and his cousin Francis discover a rich seam of copper there and Ross secures a bank loan to hold on to the mine. He is less successful in holding on to Elizabeth,the woman to whom he was engaged before going to war, but now,for financial reasons,marries Francis.
Episode 2
Sun, May 15, 197750 mins
A dejected Ross takes to the bottle until kindly cousin Verity,Charles' daughter,takes him to a ball in Truro,where she meets handsome sea captain Blamey to whom she is attracted. However the family discover that Blamey is a reformed alcoholic who went to prison for killing his wife whilst drunk and they bar Verity from seeing him. A sympathetic Ross allows the couple to meet secretly at his house but the meetings are discovered and Francis,accusing Ross of acting out of spite, challenges Blamey to a dual,the shock of which gives Charles a seizure. Ross employs young Jim Carter to help Jud but when the lad marries local girl Jinny he takes to poaching for extra cash. Ross also employs Demelza Carne,a tomboyish girl who becomes a maid helping Prudie,Verity believing she is falling in love with Ross. Ross launches his company to start up Wheal Leisure but ensures that the Warleggan bank is not putting any money up for it.
Episode 3
Sun, May 22, 197751 mins
Charles Poldark dies. Elizabeth and Francis have a child but they are unhappily married and Elizabeth discovers that he has a mistress called Anna. Jim Carter is caught poaching and Ross goes to court to plead for a non-custodial sentence for the boy but a vengeful Nicholas Warleggan gives him a two year prison term. An unhappy Ross gets drunk and is comforted by Demelza,with whom he shares an evening of passion but later,believing he has acted inappropriately,sends her back to her parents,unaware that she is pregnant. He gives Jim's wife Jinny her job instead. Ross has discovered a valuable seam of copper in the mine and is preparing to get back with Elizabeth,who has left Francis. However he discovers from Jinny that he is the father of Demelza's unborn child. He overtakes her as she travels to Truro for an abortion and proposes marriage to her.
Episode 4
Sun, May 29, 197752 mins
Whilst Wheal Leisure does well other mines are closing and Demelza witnesses a riot as starving miners raid a granary store. Ross proposes the establishment of a copper smelting factory to bring local prosperity and break the Warleggans' stranglehold on local businesses. At a christening party for Ross and Demelza's baby daughter Julia, Ross meets idealistic young doctor Dwight Enys,a local boy who is newly qualified in London and anxious to help miners with respiratory problems. Ross offers him a house and his patronage.Demelza feels out of her depth as her parents arrive and cause a scene and only Verity offers her true friendship.Soon after Demelza contrives to reunite Verity with Andrew Blamey. A travelling troupe of actors arrive and local miner Mark Daniel is smitten by actress Keren,who marries him to get away from the company. She quickly becomes bored with him and has an affair with Dwight Enys. Jud gets drunk and threatens Demelza so Ross sacks him and Prudie.
Episode 5
Sun, Jun 5, 197752 mins
George Warleggan,son of Nicholas,appears,charming Elizabeth and tricking her into giving details of Ross's business venture,which he scuppers by foreclosing. Ross suspects Francis of treachery. At a ball given by the Warleggans Demelza acquits herself well and Ross exposes Sansom,a relative of the Warleggans,as a card sharp. Ross and Dwight spring Jim from the horrors of jail but he is sick and dies. Verity elopes with Captain Blamey but Mark Daniel,learning of his wife's infidelity,strangles her.
Episode 6
Sun, Jun 12, 197752 mins
Ross helps the fugitive Mark Daniel escape to France but Demelza fails to persuade Francis to patch things up with Verity though she and Elizabeth are reconciled after they combine forces to nurse a sick Francis. However Demelza is a carrier of the disease and passes it on to Julia,who dies. The same night a ship is wrecked and drunken villagers,led by Jud,loot it. Ross however saves the captain and several crew members,learning that the ship belongs to the Warleggans. It is a night which tests Ross and Demelza's love for each other for,in addition to their bereavement,Ross is in deep financial trouble,following George's spiking his factory plan and he may even lose the house.
Episode 7
Sun, Jun 19, 197751 mins
Ross is arrested for incitement to looting and the Warleggans send men to pay witnesses,including Jud,to testify against him. Demelza,seeking character witnesses to help her man,learns that the Warleggans have now bank-rolled Ross's failed business venture and she confronts George,threatening to expose his deceit. Francis is also supportive of his cousin and he too begins to suspect George's duplicity as scurrilous pamphlets,defaming Ross,are circulated around the county. Nor is Francis happy about the younger Warleggan's increasing friendship with Elizabeth.
Episode 8
Sun, Jun 26, 197752 mins
Francis develops the morbid sore throat. Demelza insists on helping Elizabeth nurse him, and in doing so, puts at risk all those she holds most dear. For Ross, a shipwreck in Nampara Cove brings a different kind of danger.
Episode 9
Sun, Jul 3, 197752 mins
Ross stands his trial with the crowd on his side and an aggressive prosecutor frequently chided by the judge. Along with his barrister Mr. Clymer,Ross makes short work of the first paid witness and the captain whose life Ross saved speaks up for him whilst Dwight is an excellent character witness. The last witness to give evidence is Jud,who is being plied with drink and primed by Warleggan's men as to what to say but, in the recess before he is called, Demelza approaches him,asking him to do the right thing. In the event Jud gives Ross an excellent testimony,saying that all he sought to do was save lives and never ordered any looting. Ross is acquitted and the Warleggans,irate at being cheated of their victory over him,plan his financial ruin.
Episode 10
Sun, Jul 10, 197752 mins
In gratitude to his conduct at the trial Ross gives Jud,along with Prudie,his old job back at Namparra but Jud believes he is being stalked by foot-pads. Demelza falls pregnant again but agrees with Dwight not to tell Ross yet,given his monetary problems. Dwight is called out to give medical treatment to Caroline and tells her of the poverty in which many Cornish miners live. Ross patches things up with Francis,attempting to allay Demelza's fear that he is back in love with Elizabeth. Ross recalls Mark Daniel tell him as he helped him escape to France that he had seen a huge lode of copper in the disused mine Wheal Grace and the cousins plan to go into business and reopen the mine.
Episode 11
Sun, Jul 17, 197751 mins
Ross sells all his interests in Wheal Leisure to the Warleggans in order to raise capital to establish Wheal Grace as a working mine,with Francis as his business partner. To tide himself over until the mine can function,he allows a man named Trencrom to pay him to use his beaches for smuggling. Demelza is nervous although the first trip goes smoothly. Dwight Enys receives an anonymous gift of twelve sacks of oranges to give to the poor. The men who paid Jud to give false evidence against Ross catch up with him and beat him so severely news spreads that he is dead. Nicholas is nervous,fearing things have gone too far but his son tells him not to worry.
Episode 12
Sun, Jul 24, 197749 mins
Caroline admits that she sent Dwight the oranges and provides a second batch,which she is prepared to help him distribute. Dwight is impressed,both by her generosity and her frankness in declaring that she does not love Unwin,her intended.The pair of them witness one of Trencom's smuggling expeditions. As the villagers prepare to give Jud a funeral he comes back from the dead - he was only knocked unconscious,not killed,but he refuses to name his attackers,whom the Warleggans are anxious to get out of the county. With money from Pascoe,the rival bank to Warleggan,Ross and Francis legally draw up their business to reopen Wheal Grace. Later Ross meets George in a tavern and they end up brawling,with Ross getting the advantage.
Episode 13
Sun, Jul 31, 197752 mins
A year has passed. Demelza has given birth to a son,Jeremy,and Ross has opened Wheal Grace,though the plentiful copper Mark Daniel apparently saw eludes him. For extra cash he agrees to store contraband in his house,which horrifies Demelza,particularly when the local militia captain,McNeil, pays an unexpected visit to the house.Things are tight again for Ross,as,if no copper is found,the bank will foreclose and he will lose the house. Caroline breaks off her engagement and spends her time,accompanying Dwight on his rounds.She is moved by the poverty she sees and becomes a philanthropic assistant,popular with the locals,from whom she hears of Dwight's affair with Keren.
Episode 14
Sun, Aug 7, 197751 mins
Having assured Demelza that Elizabeth "loves nobody except herself",Francis drowns whilst looking for copper in Wheal Grace. Ross has to close the mine and considers selling up but a mysterious and anonymous benefactor comes to his aid,paying off all his debts and allowing him to continue with Wheal Grace. He goes to the Scilley Islands to meet Mark Daniel and find out where precisely the seam of copper Mark claims he saw is within the mine. Caroline tells Dwight she knows of his affair with Keren and they agree to marry,planning to elope together.
Episode 15
Sun, Aug 14, 197752 mins
Ross locates Mark Daniel,haunted by the death of his wife,and little help as to where the copper seam may be found. Dwight's plan to elope with Caroline is prevented when he learns that a trap is to be laid for the smugglers and he goes to warn them. He is wounded and,along with most of the smugglers,arrested,though Ross escapes. George Warleggan proposes to Elizabeth,who accepts,mainly for the financial security,rather than out of love. Ross uses dynamite to blast through the tunnel where Mark hid and find the copper. However the explosion all but destroys the mine and a man is killed.
Episode 16
Sun, Aug 21, 197751 mins
Guilt-ridden over the death,Ross prepares to close Wheal Grace and to pay off the men but discovers by chance that the mine is rich in tin and a potential money-spinner. Against Demelza's wishes one night he goes to talk Elizabeth out of marrying Warleggan but ends up in bed with her. To punish him Demelza allows him to believe for a time that she had a one night stand with Captain MacNeil,though she actually fought him off.Caroline,now resident in London after the doomed elopement,returns to Cornwall and learns that Dwight,not charged with smuggling and freed,has become a naval surgeon on the outbreak of war with France. They briefly meet in the banker's office where Ross discovers that Caroline was the anonymous donor who put up money to save him when he was facing ruin. Warleggan marries Elizabeth and,deaf to her pleas to leave Cornwall,ruthlessly encloses common land,depriving locals of their living. Fuelled by news of the French Revolution they burn Warleggan's house down. Ross saves his life - as a gesture to show Warleggan that he will be in eternal debt to a Poldark. He returns to be reconciled with Demelza and to reopen Wheal Grace.