Cornwall is braced for an invasion of Easter visitors drawn by the rugged landscapes seen in the BBC period drama Poldark — and perhaps the rugged good looks of its star.
More than seven million viewers tuned in last Sunday to watch the first episode of the adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels about Captain Ross Poldark, an 18th century soldier and heir to a tin mine who returns home to restore his family’s fortunes.
Immediately after the programme was broadcast, there was a 65 per cent rise in visitors to the tourism website visitcornwall.com. Malcolm Bell, head of Visit Cornwall, is hoping for a similar impact to that experienced after the first adaptation of the Poldark novels was broadcast in the mid-1970s.
Mr Bell said: “We still had people coming to Cornwall in the mid-90s because they had seen it on Poldark 20 years earlier. We are hoping for even more interest this time because production values have improved since the 1970s.”
Sweeping panoramas of cliffs and windswept coves are also expected to draw visitors from the US, where the series is due to be broadcast on PBS starting in June.
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Several recent television series set in Cornwall, from Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes, to last year’s adaptation of Jamaica Inn, have helped raise awareness of the county’s attractions. The producers of Poldark were filming during one of the sunniest summers on record, which caused problems for the producer Karen Thrussell. She told Radio Times that there were occasions she was praying for stormy skies and rough seas. In some scenes, clouds had to be added in post-production to break up uniformly blue skies.
Television programmes such as Poldark are vital at a time when Visit Cornwall cannot afford to advertise in the US. The 1970s production was one of the most successful the BBC has ever made, being shown in more than 40 countries.
The value of overseas viewers to Cornwall is vast even though only 5 per cent of its 4.5 million visitors a year come from outside the UK. A longrunning series of German television dramas based on the novels of Rosamunde Pilcher is credited with attracting 300,000 visitors a year.
Poldark was filmed at a series of locations including the perfectly preserved Georgian harbour at Charlestown, near St Austell, which stood in for 18th century Truro. Church Cove, at Gunwallow, was used for night-time scenes of smuggling and shipwrecks. Cast and crew also spent weeks on Bodmin Moor, the location of Poldark’s cottage.
Tin mines at Botallack and Levant, perched on cliffs near St Just, play a prominent role. Visitors to north Cornwall will recognise the coastlines at Padstow and St Agnes Head.
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Equally rugged and popular with female viewers is the actor Aidan Turner who plays Poldark. His appearance prompted a flurry of excited Twittering.
The eight episodes of this series are based on the first of the 12 Poldark novels by Graham, giving plenty of potential for future productions.
Easter visitors to Cornwall will be able to enjoy experiences from pony trekking on Bodmin Moor to voyages in wooden sailing boats. Georgia Witchell of Classic Sailing, which has 18 boats, said: “Whenever there’s a new Pirates of the Caribbean film, or Hornblower is on, we get calls. So we are ready”.