Design notes for Poldark series 2 by Peter Findley

When all is said and done, this is the story of two peoples love for each other and this is paramount to POLDARK’S success. It would be my intention to continue to immerse the viewer into a realistic portrait of Ross and Demelza’s world. By doing this the production remains true to the past and the source books dramatic intent.

The following pages offer a glimpse into this world together with some sketch plans for the Red Lion bedrooms and Dwights lodgings.

Interiors

Current interior sets are very high quality and well lit and my only minor negative comment is they are perhaps very pre-cisely dressed and would benefit from a more lived-in feel. Otherwise difficult to fault except for the lack of flowing tran-sition to the exteriors. Ross’s should be a little more dis-tressed maybe. The aim is simply to build on the success of previous sets and continue to layer up the detail and improve the geographical link from the interior to the exterior and find ways to bring the minutiae of 18th century life alive.

It was not uncommon at social occasions once the men and woman had adjourned to separate rooms for men to piss in pots hidden behind a curtains in a sideboard. Not for Ross but I can imagine the Warleggans (with back to camera) do-ing this blatantly while still holding a civil conversation, the height of bad manners !

Exteriors

This is the area which would benefit from a push and investment in period detail. The exteriors create the big canvas into which our char-acters are shaped, the world they inhabit and which we buy into.

The exterior city streets of ‘Truro’ seem lack a full Cornish identity and would benefit from more stone buildings and greater period im-mersion.

Perhaps a more radical solution would be to utilise the waste ground at the BOTTLE YARD to build a bespoke back lot of small streets / square intersection to allow for more flexibility between interior and exterior transitions. Over several series the initial outlay would be off-set by savings in location fees and unit moves. Acting primarily as Truro , it could partially double as some lesser areas of Illogan. Per-haps with the exterior of the ASSEMBLY ROOMS as a focus for Truro together with THE RED LION and the cathedral steps combined with narrow passage ways leading off to small side streets/ alleys for flexible use. The mention of cathedral steps may seem ambitious but by incorporating even a small section of such grand architecture immediately grounds you in a city the size of Truro. Production val-ues would be increased as it would be bespoke and could incorporate specific settings featured in the future scripts. The buildings fa-cades would then benefit from greater control over the historic and aesthetic treatment and could easily be planned into a series of plate shots to give a greater vista and therefore geography of the City.

More evidence of urban squalor. The trauma of the birth of the industrial revolution needs to be brought sharply into focus. The traditional agricultural or fishing existence was being turned on its head and forcing people away from the land and fishing and into the towns and cities. Classic images by Hogarth are earlier but still reflect the trauma being played out on the streets and in the rural landscape. Streets need to look busier with greater movement / sense of purpose. Consider crowd replication, shooting obliquely across streets, increased use of fenestration and artificial blockers such as carts and carriages. The streets would be filthy with horse muck which itself creates industry: we see carts collecting it.... We might see a dead horse in the street - a very common occurrence as traffic accidents were commonplace. All this played un-referred to, more as matter of fact background action.

Greater scenes of the industrial revolution taking hold, a cultural shift which in many ways brought Ross and Demelza together. Mine scenes looks very unproductive. No steam engine or remains of derelict engine seems a let down and could be achieved with part build / cgi composite. In the previous series we see smoke from the chimney, but from what? The impact of the massive static steam engines at the mine heads on the environment cannot be underestimated. Literally ripping the lungs and heart out of the bucolic countryside and its agricultural past with the attending smoke and sound. This is the industrial revolution at its most obvious. The sound echoing across the landscape must have been extraordinary. Remember these steam engines had been well established since the early 1700’s.

Clearly Ross is struggling financially but there is a historic precedent to allow him to acquire the latest steam engine technology or to im-prove what he has. James Watt struggled to sell his more efficient steam engine to replace the old updated Newcomen design so he ap-proached one mine owner to supply and install the the engine at no cost to prove its worth. It was a fantastic piece of marketing and he subsequently sold many updated engines peaking at nearly 600 by the 1800’s.

Deep mining of copper was only possible by the increasingly sophisticated pumping equipment to remove some of the water from under-ground. The effect of copper mining on Cornwall was huge. Demand for the metal was high, prices were good and copper reserves were large. There was little competition from elsewhere in the country. At its peak the copper mining industry employed up to 30% of the county's male workforce and came to involve not just the mining and refining of ore, but also smelting.

Clearly Ross’s mine needs to look neater and more sustainable to reflect Ross’s character where any industry related to the Warleggans or other rivals should greater reflect the dark satanic mills. This is not the powerhouse of Northern England but even so, where are the spoil heaps, evidence of ore being transported? The industry beginning to tear the rural landscape apart.

The port needs to be re-energised, ore would be being delivered on a daily basis for export and loaded onto ships using man powered dockside cranes. Not enough ships (a cost of course, but replication straightforward) and increase evidence of fishing and general trade. The port would be teaming with life, the epi-centre of trade in the region.

It would be fantastic to adapt an existing wagon and convert to a LONG WAGGON, the articulated lorry of of the 18th century with 18 inch wide wheels. A fantastic piece of kit for harbour and street scenes.

The beaches would have ships being careened at low tide, again just a greater reflection of the everyday goings on in the world around our main characters. The pounding heart and en-ergy of the industrial revolution taking hold. The sweeping away of agricultural pursuits and the old life.

CGI geography shots

Occasionally it would be helpful to have wider ge-ography shots to relate areas of the locations to each other, the odd crows eye view of Truro and its harbour for example. Charles Town is a great location but as it is currently shot it feels like a coastal harbour, such as Portreath, ironically where ore would have been transported, as op-posed to part of the bustling port at the head of the Fal estuary.

So a reverse angle from a boat approaching the harbour to reveal the vista of Truro or the position of Wheal Leisure in relation to the coast. All this helps to place the viewer in Poldark’s world. Of-course this all involves cost but again, these shots can be easily replicated many times over the course of a few series and would add greatly to Poldark’s cinematic sweep

The Wheal Leisure

Ruin as originally shot. Still A

Revised still B showing beam en-gine with larger gallery in place.

Revised still showing engine shed fully restored with winding engine. Or omit large flywheel to create a pumping engine.

The Competitors Mine

The smelting works

A combination of existing stone buildings, part build perhaps with workmen drag-ging slag from a furnace and a CG composite. A short scene but a chance to show the size and complexity of the smelting operation.

Harbour

Assembly Rooms (with integral first floor restaurant and balcony) location to match Truro.

Red Lion Bedrooms

Caroline Penvenen bedroom more opulently dressed, she would only settle for the best. Re order the same set and redecorate / redress room for Ver-itys and Demelzas room. See plans on following pages.

Dwights lodgings, would be low rent in a contrasting Inn / boarding house of stone and timber frame us-ing an attic room.

Gaol (probably Bodmin gaol) or construct simple cell of bare stone wall.