I think that the most recent Poldark BBC adaptation (I haven’t watched the 1970s version and don’t plan to...) may be my favorite book to screen adaptation to date. Winston Graham’s Poldark series is a twelve book series that follows Ross Poldark, his relationships and all of his drama (there’s a lot of drama). What is so fascinating about Poldark is that the plot and characters are equally dynamic and interesting; pair this with really engaging writing that is descriptive and evocative and the reader is completely sucked in.
The Poldark adaptation starring Aidan Turner gives the viewer a very similar experience to reading the books. In my opinion, the cast was perfectly chosen - you can tell that the actors enjoyed working with each other. Also, because the adaptation is five seasons long and 8-10 episodes are devoted to each season, the show has room to “breathe.” Every four episodes roughly captures one book, and even though there is content that needed to be condensed, tweaked or completely left out due to the time constraints, I think they did an excellent job maintaining the core essence of these novels. Even the adjustments that were made, make sense and work well on screen.
On screen adaptations have restrictions such as time, budgets, actor availability, etc. to capture what they need to capture. Imagery and music help to tell more story in a short amount of time, whereas a novelist can go on and on for as many pages as they like. Again, this adaptation uses everything precisely. I have particularly watched the first season (because it’s my favorite) too many times to count, mainly because I would watch an episode and completely break it down by rewinding and pausing. There are so many subtle images of flowers and landscapes that help tell the story. Also, the actors are so good and nuanced that they are able to save time by making a quick facial expression instead of taking up 20 seconds to speak. Really well done. This happens in Outlander too, but that’s for another post... . Each episode is packed with so much content, that the story is propelled forward quickly, without feeling rushed. It’s difficult to achieve good pacing in a plot and they really nailed it in this adaptation of Poldark.
Honestly, I could go on and on about this adaptation. It’s so rich with content. If you’ve seen the show but haven’t read the books yet, or vice versa, transitioning from one to the other is still an exciting experience. They enhance each other - I watched the show first, not knowing they were books, so when I picked up the books already knowing everything, it still felt like I was experiencing the story for the first time because I got to experience Graham’s beautiful prose.
Have you seen this adaptation? What do you like or dislike about it?
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