One of the best and steamiest historical romances in recent years is about to stream on Netflix. Outlander might be considered the definitive historical romance series, with the ongoing sequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, currently a smash hit on STARZ. While Outlander takes you to the Highlands of Scotland, one of the best and most underrated period romances is obsessed with the beautiful English coast. Those who’ve seen it are already obsessed, and those who are about to watch it need to prepare to binge-watch the entire thing, because Poldark will finally stream in the US on Netflix.
Poldark is set to join Netflix’s streaming library on October 8. The hit British series is based on the series of novels by Wisnton Graham. The story was turned into a two-season drama back in 1975. But it’s the 2015 series that became a phenomenon. Created by showrunner Debbie Horsfield, the series starred Rivals‘ Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark, with Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza. The cast also includes Jack Farthing, Beatie Edney, Tristan Sturrock, Luke Norris, and Heida Reed.
Set after the American Revolutionary War, Ross Poldark returns from America to rebuild his life in England. With a new business venture in mind, he creates a worrying number of enemies along the way, whilst also finding unexpected love. Poldark has everything you could want from a period romance, without all the weird time-travel parts of Outlander. The series ran for five seasons between 2015 and 2019, and won the BAFTA Audience Award in 2016.
‘Poldark’ Was a Major Hit in 2015
We’ve already mentioned that Poldark was a big success in the UK, but the scale of its popularity was phenomenal. The series brought back the once defunct water cooler talk, as people couldn’t help but commit employee time theft by discussing the latest episodes while on the clock. The series as a whole boasts an excellent 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, with an strong 80% audience rating. Audiences adored Poldark from the first episode, calling it “a fund and steamy romance,” while another called it “dramatic, but never over-the-top.” According to critics, the first season is the strongest, as it holds a tremendous 91% critics rating. Audiences agree, rating it 89%. In fact, four of the five seasons have great audience reviews that put it within the 80% range. But, Season 5 still remains divisive among fans, as it holds a Rotten Tomatoes audience rating of just 50%. But critics still adored it, bestowing it with an 86% rating on the Tomatometer.
Following Poldark, Aidan Turner has moved on to yet another raunchy series, that being Disney+’s Rivals. Also set in the English countryside, albeit several centuries later, Rivals starred Turner, David Tennant, and Alex Hassell as moguls of the TV industry in the ’80s all competing to come out on top. Turner’s role in the series as Irish TV star, Declan O’Hara, is less steamy as his turn in Poldark. But the show as a whole is notoriously R-rated, and Season 2 (which is currently in development) appears to be upping the ante.