Cornish gig rowers star in BBC’s Poldark

Forty years after the first Poldark TV series, a new adaptation is currently showing on BBC One and gig rowers from Charlestown Rowing Club are involved. 

Adapted from Winston Graham’s epic tales set in Cornwall during the 18th Century, the 2015 series stars Aidan Turner in the role of Ross Poldark and Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza.

Charlestown Rowing Club members were recruited to crew the boats as well as to act as general extras in many of the water based scenes. 

Poldark is filmed in various locations around Cornwall with the coastal and mining scenes shot at Charlestown Harbour, Porthgwarra Cove, Bodmin Moor and the mines around the Pendeen area. 

This is not the first time Cornish rowers have appeared in films. They were also involved in the original series and also more recently in Mel Gibson’s epic Apocalypto where filming of some of the final scenes were shot at Carlyon Bay beach close to Charlestown Harbour.

By Shane Sullivan

Find out more about Poldark here www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jslnf and rowing at Charlestown here http://charlestownrowingclub.org/