LOS ANGELES (AP) – On a spring evening in 1977, an unsuspecting American TV audience was about to surrender to 18th-century British soldier Ross Poldark.
“Tonight we begin a new series, called ‘Poldark,’ based on the novels of Winston Graham,” said “Masterpiece Theatre” host Alistair Cooke, advising PBS viewers to “settle in to a spate of loving, dueling, poaching, smuggling, wenching and marrying – not to mention banking and copper mining.”
The erudite Cooke neatly summed up the historical saga set in England’s Cornwall region. Robin Ellis starred as Poldark, back from a battering in the American Revolutionary War to his family’s imperiled mining business, with Angharad Rees as Demelza, the street urchin destined for more.
A sensation in Britain, “Poldark” traveled well and prevailed with U.S. viewers in that primitive era before social media and binge-viewing. The affection proved lasting: In a 2007 viewer survey, it scored as one of the favorite “Masterpiece” programs of all time.
Now a seven-part reboot, starting 9 p.m. EDT Sunday on PBS stations (check local listings), will try to woo new and old “Poldark” fans. It’s already earned the go-ahead for a second season at home in the U.K., where it successfully aired earlier this year.