Poldark: Battle Of The Heart-Throbs

He’s the heart-throb who had a real-life fling with Eleanor Tomlinson (that’s Demelza to you). She’s his on-screen lover, catapulted into TV’s biggest drama from her job interview at a coffee shop. Harry Richardson and Ellise Chappell tell Event why their season four storyline is bound to blow up a storm

It comes as news to Harry Richardson that the Cornish stream in which Poldark’s Drake Carne made a splash bathing topless is now part of a walking tour for fans of the show.

‘Oh, is it? Really? I had no idea. Dirty Drake!’ he splutters. ‘Well, it will never live up to Aidan Turner’s scything – I still have something to strive for!’

Battle of the heart-throbs: The romance of Morwenna Chynoweth and Drake is set to rival that of Ross and Demelza (right)

Kindly and devoted Drake is Poldark’s blacksmith, brother to Demelza and true love of the graceful Miss Morwenna Chynoweth. He might not have the ‘phwoar’ factor of Turner’s Captain Ross, but his sex appeal has been dialled up sufficiently in the show’s shirt off stakes to cause a real stir.

‘I don’t think I am very aware of it,’ muses Richardson, 25. ‘Drake is so innocent and young – it’s definitely a different energy to what happened to Ross. Me, I get a lot of happy mums. It is a lovely response, not sexual – people seem to want to take care of me.’

He’s being a bit faux humble here, for the Anglo-Australian actor was spotted smooching with his co-star Eleanor Tomlinson, who plays his big sister Demelza, wife of Ross and mistress of Nampara, in London last year.

Their deepening friendship was revealed midway through Series Three of the show, delighting its 6.7 million fans. Richardson is too gentlemanly to disclose any details, but pictures of him relaxed and happy in a baseball cap and shorts, proprietorially holding Tomlinson, looking carefree in a cream lace mini and tan heels, are pretty compelling evidence of a romance.

Whatever happened between them is over now because he’s currently single. ‘I don’t have a girlfriend,’ he confirms. Nor was it problematic afterwards. ‘It didn’t affect [our working relationship] at all. We are very, very close.’

Thankfully his on-screen love affair with Morwenna, played by Ellise Chappell, 26, has proved more enduring. Indeed, it is one of the bedrocks of the eagerly awaited Series Four of the Sunday-night drama. The next instalment of Poldark’s horses and corsets, mining, money, pilchards, pasties and politics will be shown this spring on the BBC.

The relationship between Morwenna and Drake is one of the bedrocks of the eagerly awaited Series Four of the Sunday-night drama

Writer Debbie Horsfield is happy to confirm: ‘Things are looking up for Morwenna and Drake’ – news that will have audiences cheering. Because, while Elizabeth Warleggan has cheated on the dastardly George with Ross, and Demelza has given in to the charms of suave Hugh Armitage, and even the double act of Prudie and Jud Paynter, Nampara’s old retainers, has been busted, Morwenna and Drake have remained unshakeably loyal.

The unlikely couple fell in love across the social divide of Drake’s impoverished background and Morwenna’s position in society as Elizabeth’s cousin and governess to her son Geoffrey Charles. Secret assignations on Cornish beaches, stolen kisses, a bespoke seashell bracelet as a love token and bunches of pale winter primroses (symbolising hope) all looked encouraging.

But as Series Three moved to its dramatic finale, the lovers seemed doomed, with Drake set up to face the noose by Warleggan, and Morwenna forced to save his life by agreeing to marry odious vicar, the Rev Osborne Whitworth. Is there still hope for them in Series Four?

‘Yes,’ the actors chorus. ‘The last series ended with a feeling that they still love each other really deeply, and that is enough for Morwenna to keep going,’ says Chappell. Richardson adds: ‘It says a lot about their love that being kept apart strengthens them. Drake is like a dog with a bone.’

As Series Three moved to its dramatic finale, the lovers seemed doomed, with Drake set up to face the noose by Warleggan, and Morwenna forced to save his life

It’s not the prettiest analogy but it’s accurate. Having been beaten up and burned out of his smithy by Warleggan’s henchmen and warned off by wiser minds, Drake still can’t leave Morwenna alone. ‘What makes him weak is also what makes him strong: his inability to let go,’ says Richardson.

Morwenna can’t stop herself either. She has survived marital rape and emotional abuse at the hands of Whitworth, manipulation by the Warleggans and is mother to a new baby son, but she’s still on the vicarage doorstep accepting an anonymous posy of primroses (hint) and telling Drake, whom she guesses is hidden but watching, she loves him.

‘Morwenna’s a bit of a heroine in Series Four,’ says Chappell admiringly. ‘We see her strength, resourcefulness and resilience as well as her selflessness and loyalty. Actually, she is awesome!’

Surely it’s only a matter of time before she’s making Drake a kidney pudding in a kitchen of their own and he’s back at work to support the divorced, semi-disgraced love of his life and her child? ‘He has so much love for Morwenna, he would do anything to make her happy,’ says Richardson. ‘If she wanted that, I’m sure he would be on board.’

It’s clear during the Event photoshoot that the pair get on well in real life. They first met in London ahead of filming Series Three. ‘We felt we ought to get to know each other before we had to pretend to be in love,’ says Chappell. ‘We went for a walk, found a deli, bought a load of cheese and went to the park for a picnic.’

These days, they share the long car journeys to Cornwall for filming, with Richardson playing the guitar and Chappell singing along. He teases her terribly. When she’s being helped out of the full wig she wears to play Morwenna, he sings the Darth Vader music from Star Wars. ‘Her resemblance to Darth when that wig comes off is uncanny.’

In the new series, Poldark runs for election after accepting that political power is his only weapon against Warleggan

It comes as news to Harry Richardson that the Cornish stream in which Poldark’s Drake Carne made a splash bathing topless is now part of a walking tour for fans of the show. ‘Well, it will never live up to Aidan Turner’s scything,’ Richardson says modestly

For both of them, Poldark is a career-launching show. Chappell had just two previous screen jobs to her name when she got the call offering her the part of Morwenna. She was walking to a coffee bar to ask for shifts as a barista at the time. Unsurprisingly, she turned around and skipped home instead.

Richardson, a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth (WAAPA), has been making a name for himself with an appearance in last year’s Christopher Nolan blockbuster Dunkirk and the 2016 ITV adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s Doctor Thorne, but had never even been to Cornwall when he nailed the part of Drake Carne.

Now he’s known as the local hero who dumped hundreds of toads – loathed by Warleggan – into the pond at his manor house, Trenwith. Then there was the bath in the stream and, of course, many scenes shared with Poldark’s biggest star, Aidan Turner.

Richardson praises Turner’s efficiency, professionalism and his chemistry with Tomlinson, and – unexpectedly – outs him as a brilliant dancer. ‘He’s a great mover with his spins and twists and turns. That’s something he keeps up his sleeve, but I reckon he must have a secret past life…’

Neither Richardson or Chappell has any fear of being typecast in costume drama after Poldark, which is anticipated to come to an end after Series Five

Drake is a role Richardson inhabits to a degree. ‘It displaces me personally. It’s a long shoot, five months, which means we spend more time in a different century than we do in 2018. When I am deep in filming, it changes me. It’s a lot harder to connect with technology and I am happier listening to folk music and walking through woods.’

By contrast, Chappell feels the need to come out of character and ‘park’ her plot lines. ‘Morwenna goes through so much it makes me teary,’ she says. ‘You can’t help but carry some of it with you. You have to acknowledge that and step away from it or you’d end up freaking out and in a really dark place.’

Series Four sees Horsfield draw on the last part of Poldark author Winston Graham’s sixth book, The Four Swans, and all of his seventh, The Angry Tide. The action runs up to Christmas 1799, and brings a change of location from Cornwall to the Palace of Westminster. Captain Ross is found fighting Warleggan not on the streets of Truro but at the ballot box. So would Chappell and Richardson vote for Ross Poldark MP? ‘Hell yeah, he’s such a badass,’ laughs Richardson.

The plot line has been trailed with a picture of Turner staring moodily from beneath his tricorn hat against a backdrop of St Paul’s Cathedral. His decision to become a politicised people’s hero is, according to Horsfield, driven by a ‘catastrophic happening’ in the first episode of the new series. (Readers of the books will know what’s coming, everyone else better have their hankies to hand.)

The writer is clear that Series Four ‘has some wonderfully affirming storylines and some utterly tragic ones’. Drake and Morwenna’s looks like the former. Richardson lets slip that Drake’s burnt-out smithy has been rebuilt and viewers already know Morwenna’s sister, Rowella, has got herself pregnant by Whitworth and is blackmailing him. Her behaviour may have the unintended consequence of freeing her sibling from her matrimonial bonds.

It’s all a bit tricky and treacherous, but interestingly Richardson’s mother is a relationship counsellor, who has taught him a lot about the complexities of love. ‘She’s very astute, and that’s been helpful thinking about Drake and Morwenna,’ he says.

The writer is clear that Series Four ‘has some wonderfully affirming storylines and some utterly tragic ones’. Drake and Morwenna’s looks like the former

Richardson was born in Sydney and lived briefly in the UK when he was young. His family loved to watch English dramas such as Midsomer Murders and Pride And Prejudice, and once he’d graduated from WAAPA he ‘couldn’t wait to get over here’.

He likes climbing and skateboarding, though he rarely skates in Cornwall because a broken arm would be disastrous for continuity. He does go bouldering along the rugged coastline but won’t surf: ‘Nooo, it’s really cold!’

Chappell grew up in Warwickshire and studied drama at Exeter. She’s lived with her cameraman boyfriend for two years.

Neither has any fear of being typecast in costume drama after Poldark, which is anticipated to come to an end after Series Five – next year’s show was confirmed by Turner earlier this year. Chappell would like to try comedy and Richardson is disarmingly honest about how much he’d love a part in a Bond film.

For now though, it’s all about Morwenna and Drake – whether he’ll make her any more seashell bracelets or, as Richardson has just threatened, give her a bucket of tadpoles for Valentine’s Day.

‘Those toads were a hit with the ladies,’ Chappell says. As for Morwenna, can her kidney pudding ever be as good as Demelza’s?

‘Better,’ says Richardson. 

‘Poldark’ returns soon to BBC1

It’s the Wild West Country: series 4

Series Three closed with Ross Poldark and and wife Demelza’s marriage in trouble following infidelity on both sides, while Elizabeth Warleggan is desperately trying to shore up her relationship with husband George. In Series Four, we rejoin Poldark in 1796. George Warleggan’s fortune and social reach is increasing. Meanwhile, Cornish villagers are mutinous as Warleggan forces grain prices beyond people’s reach. Here’s the state of play with the main characters – and some of the new names we’ll meet…

Series Three closed with Ross Poldark and and wife Demelza’s marriage in trouble following infidelity on both sides

Elizabeth Warleggan is desperately trying to shore up her relationship with husband George

Ross Poldark Poldark runs for election after accepting that political power is his only weapon against Warleggan. He tries to become a better man, but his reckless streak endangers him. He does not yet know that Demelza has cheated on him.

Demelza Poldark Having been seduced by the young Hugh Armitage, Demelza contemplates loyalty and forgiveness. Armitage, however, still adores his married lover.

Elizabeth Warleggan Her life is crumbling: she is increasingly dependent on opium, and husband George has worked out that son Valentine might not have been a premature baby, but conceived before they were married.

George Warleggan (Jack Farthing)

George Warleggan His mercenary streak has made him the most hated man in Cornwall, his marriage is in trouble and Ross is finally giving his enemies a figurehead. He’s never been lonelier.

And introducing…

Monk Adderley Amoral socialite and rake, Adderley (Max Bennett) is one of Warleggan’s best friends. That’s how he first meets Ross, with whom he’s on an instant collision course.

Lady Whitworth The Rev Osborne’s mother, Lady Whitworth (Rebecca Front), imposes herself upon the Whitworths’ house. When will she discover her son has made his own sister-in-law pregnant and is being blackmailed by her?

Plus one not-quite new character…

Geoffrey Charles, the son of Elizabeth Warleggan and her late first husband was played by Harry Marcus. Louis Davison, son of actor Peter Davison, now takes on the role of the more grown-up boy.