Commentary

'Poldark' And Handsome: New Hero Settles In On PBS

Meet Ross Poldark, dashing and raven-tressed, and wearing a scar running vertically down his face just to the left of his left eye.

This mark does nothing to diminish, and everything to enhance, his dark handsome looks -- a cross between John Stamos and Liev Schreiber. Like the title character Schreiber plays in “Ray Donovan” on Showtime, Poldark -- played by Aidan Turner in “Poldark” on PBS’ “Masterpiece” -- is a brooder and a man of few words. His aura of mystery and stubborn self-reliance makes men feel vaguely threatened, and women swoon.

Unlike the character Stamos played on a famous TV sitcom, Poldark’s house is not full (except for two grimy, begrudging caretakers and a comely servant girl). That’s because he went away to America to fight and acquire his scar in the losing war to quash the American revolution. And when he returned home in 1783 to his native Cornwall on the southwest tip of England, he learned his father was dead, his familial property was in ruins and his estate heavily in debt.

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He had been gone so long that his fellow Cornwallians presumed him dead, including the woman, Elizabeth, to whom he was once betrothed, but who instead married Poldark’s less handsome cousin Francis, 

In a nutshell, this is the set-up for this seven-episode series, which is a remake of a first version of “Poldark” that was produced in the mid-1970s. Both miniseries are based on a series of “Poldark” novels by Winston Graham. 

The third episode of ”Poldark” airs this Sunday (July 5) on PBS, so there’s still time to get involved with “Poldark” before the series reaches its midpoint. It’s a diverting piece of escapism that has all the hallmarks of British made-for-TV costume dramas. First and foremost is its depiction of the class system that separated so-called “gentle-folk” from the working classes, even though, as “Poldark” and other series like it almost always demonstrate, the gentry exhibit no higher character (and often a baser one) than the rabble on whom they casually confer second-class citzenship.

To those of us who habitually gravitate toward these “Masterpiece” period pieces on PBS, the British TV-producing classes seem obsessed with this class system, since they insist on recreating it time and time again -- from “Poldark” in the 18th century to “Downton Abbey” in the 20th. 

Then there are the rules of comportment that govern “polite” society in these costume productions. These are always endlessly fascinating, since our own anything-goes contemporary world has so few rules, if any, governing personal or interpersonal behavior. But in “Poldark,” tongues wag when Poldark dances with his former love Elizabeth at the ball and then, heaven forbid, engages in a banal conversation with her.

As a viewing experience, “Poldark” is not nearly as rich as “Downton Abbey,” to which it’s being compared all over the place. That’s no crime since few shows can top “Downton,” which we associate more with the cold winter months of January and February anyway. 

“Poldark,” on the other hand, is just the thing for these languid Sunday evenings at the outset of summer. It’s an addictive show -- easy on the eyes and non-taxing on the brain.  

“Poldark” airs Sunday nights on “Masterpiece” on PBS at 9 Eastern (in most places, but check local listings).

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