The books had previously been made into a beloved TV series in the 1970s, but the new version offered more than just dreamy images of the Cornish coastline and the twisting tale of a British army captain who returns home from the American Revolutionary War to find the woman he loves is to marry his cousin, and his father has left the family estate in ruins.
While some viewers’ hearts may have skipped a beat when Colin Firth emerged from a lake in a wet shirt a decade before in 1995’s Pride & Prejudice, prior to Poldark most mainstream period dramas on terrestrial TV were stuffy adaptations in which the only chests on display were the ones spilling out of the heroine’s corsets. (Sorry, Downton Abbey fans - that show, which debuted in 2010, is utterly lovely, but it will never, ever be sexy.)
It’s most obvious in the budding romance between Turner’s Ross Poldark and his kitchen maid Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), and also in the smouldering looks between Ross and his former love Elizabeth (Heida Reed), but flirtatious plots involving villainous George Warleggan (Jack Farthing), Dr Dwight Enys (Luke Norris) and Caroline Penvenen (Gabriella Wilde) all contribute to the general feeling that the county of Cornwall is far steamier than any travel show would have you believe.
The Borgias, The Tudors (both very loosely based on historical figures) and the infamously explicit Outlander (based on Diana Gabaldon’s steamy novels) already existed, but the huge success of the British-made Poldark paved the way for even more period dramas that mixed sexiness and silliness with history, including Harlots, The Great and, of course, Bridgerton, based on Julia Quinn’s series of romance novels.
Bridgerton’s brooding leading men - from Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony and Rege-Jean Page’s Simon to Luke Newton’s Colin and Luke Thompson’s Benedict - also all owe a debt to Aidan Turner’s Poldark, a fully realised character with flaws, humour and even simmering anger, not just a tanned and muscular man who looks good with his shirt off.
Based on Jilly Cooper’s 1988 ‘bonkbuster’ novel, the raunchy Rivals was promoted as a period drama because it is set in the 1980s, and it also features all the elements that made Poldark such a hit back in 2015 – it’s sexy, it’s got an interesting villain, a flawed hero (Alex Hassell’s Rupert) and plot twists aplenty. (Yes, it does have shirtless men as well.)
Turner described the show to RadioTimes.com last year by saying: "It’s bold and it’s naughty and it’s a lot of fun."
Poldark is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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