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Posts Tagged ‘Poldark’

The expanded, updated “Making Poldark”–out now

Posted in other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , on April 28, 2012| 48 Comments »

Originally written and published by a small Cornish publisher in 1978–Making Poldark was updated in 1987 when the BBC aired the series again.

When I heard that Acorn Media were going to make Poldark available in a double DVD set for the first time in the United States, it seemed like a good opportunity to take another look at the book to see if it was worth updating again.

This extended version is the result. With many more photographs, some from Winston’s own album of photos he took while with us on location for the second series (published with the kind permission of his son, Andrew Graham).

It covers both the professional and the personal.

The original was a light-hearted memoir of the making of the series.

The new edition includes an account of how and why the plan to make a third series ended so badly–a sad and disappointing tale–enlivened towards the end by The Poldark Appreciation Society’s valiant and colorful protest campaign.

It sketches in the intervening years which have seen our move to France, my diagnosis with Type Two diabetes and the publication of Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

There are  two versions of the new edition. One is a color-enhanced Collectors Edition, the other is a standard black & white version.

They are available via the website, CreateSpace: 

 The Black and White version $14.99

Colour version $24.99

or http://www.Amazon.com/.

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Georgetown Book Event

Posted in Diabetes, other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , on March 9, 2012| 15 Comments »

A brief talk to the assembled group

Wonderful book event in Georgetown last night!

Thanks to author, nutritionist and all-around whirlwind, Katherine Tallmadge for organizing the event; Nancy Taylor Bubes for opening her beautiful home to more than 80 guests, the American Institute of Wine and Food  for co-sponsoring, and Executive Chef, Janis McLean of Bistrot Le Zinc for demonstrating the potato-less salmon fishcakes recipe–and thanks to all who turned out, many bringing dishes prepared from recipes in Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

The Washington Post’s Food Editor Bonnie Benwick was present the entire evening and wrote a wonderful account today: http://wapo.st/xGHO30/.

We leave balmy Washington D.C. where the magnolia blossoms are opening for the Windy City  tomorrow!

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The American Book Tour Schedule

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , on March 5, 2012| 19 Comments »

Here’s the American tour schedule:

 Washington D.C.: Wed., March 7th 6-8pm, Georgetown event with cooking demonstration:
In Chicago area, a pop-up book-signing at the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble in Evanston (northern suburb)
on Sunday, March 11th at 3pm.
In LA, Chevalier’s Books in Larchmont on Saturday Mar 17th 1pm-3pm.
126 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Tel: 323-465-1334
Fax: 323-465-6093
E-mail: chevaliers@earthlink.net
In the San Francisco area:
Wed, March 21st, 7pm, Books Inc,
Thursday, March 22nd The Booksmith, 7.30pm Downtown San Francisco in Haight-Ashbury,
1644 Haight Street, San Francisco CA 94117
415-863-8688 p 415-863-2540 f

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Teeth!

Posted in Diabetes, other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , on October 24, 2011| 14 Comments »

I remember Judy Geeson (who played Caroline Penvenen in the second series of Poldark) once asking me how long I took cleaning my teeth!

Such a question! It must have been nerves—anxiety provokes strange conversations.

We were standing around waiting to record a scene at the BBC’s Studios in Birmingham, in 1977.

She was shocked when I told her it usually took me about 20 seconds and that I once had to have 22 fillings after not seeing the dentist for 3 years.

“You must spend at least 3 minutes and floss every time, beforehand.” she told me sternly.

Duly admonished I have followed her advice ever since.

This exchange came to mind when Meredith sent me the link to a website that describes in detail what can happen to a diabetic’s teeth when glucose  levels are unchecked.

It also has useful tips about how to keep your mouth healthy:

People with diabetes are at risk for mouth infections, especially periodontal (gum) disease. Periodontal disease can damage the gum and bone that hold your teeth in place and may lead to painful chewing problems. Some people with serious gum disease lose their teeth. Periodontal disease may also make it hard to control your blood glucose (blood sugar).

By controlling your blood glucose, brushing and flossing every day, and visiting a dentist regularly, you can help prevent periodontal disease.

I brush and floss three times a day.

Thanks Judy!

(We quickly got our teeth into the scene!)

Toothsome threesome--Angharad, Robin and Judy!


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“If a job’s worth doing…”

Posted in other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2011| 7 Comments »

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple has died, aged 56. In an early interview with Playboy magazine he is quoted as saying:

We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” (my italics)

This put me in mind of John Bloomfield, the costume designer on the first series of Poldark.

I remember once seeing John sitting on a dry stone wall in Cornwall while we were filming, sewing a button onto a part of a costume that would never be caught on camera, but was an authentic period detail.

It didn’t matter to him that it probably would never be seen, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep well that night if his costume had been incomplete!

We had worked together “B.P.” (Before Poldark!) on an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s social satire, Bel Ami.

He made me 17 stunning suits for the five-part serialisation, all of which he would sketch out beforehand in an original way.

John's pasted paper sketch for a George Duroy suit

With pieces of coloured paper–cutting like a tailor–he would build a patchwork portrait of the outfit.

Attention to detail from the start!

Rest In Peace– Steve Jobs.

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A few days off…

Posted in other sides to this life, Poldark, tagged , , , , , on August 22, 2011| 55 Comments »

A Hundred and Fifty Two posts and…

…I’m going to have a few days off.

Partly to finish the update of a book I wrote years ago called Making Poldark—and partly to have a few days off!

Back in 1978 I was commissioned by Bossiney Books (a small publisher in Cornwall)  to write an account of the filming of the two series. I updated it in 1987 and it had a life with the issue of the videos and the DVDs (only recently released in the United States).

Acorn Media are issuing a box set of both series in the USA soon and are including, as a special “extra”, the first chapter of my original memoir. That inspired me to begin work on a further update.

Here’s a “sneak preview” of the draft of the new chapter:

Making Poldark—PART 3

Twenty five years on and I’m living in a Presbytère—(priest’s house– the last priest moved out 90 years ago)—deep in the countryside of SW France with an American wife, Meredith, six cats and a hen.

I shop in the local markets and cook for the two of us twice a day. I’ve written a cookbook for Type Two diabetics and blog most days about that, cooking and the life here.

 What happened to the actor who for years feared the day he discovered he didn’t need to act anymore?

What happened to the townie who found the countryside beautiful–but dull–and couldn’t wait to get back to the city on a Sunday night?

 Well—“life moves on” is the easy answer, but that won’t do.

 When we reissued Making Poldark in the late 80s, Meredith and I were living in a Victorian house in north London, not far from where I grew up around Hampstead.

London is blessed with large parks and Hampstead Heath was a brisk walk away—you can lose yourself in the woods there and make believe you are in the countryside and still be a 15 minute walk from the local movie house.

 I had never thought of owning a second home in the sticks—let alone in France. (I knew Italy better and went to Florence regularly—I love the Italian kitchen.)

It was a shock then to hear myself asking the friends of Hughes Rudd—Meredith’s colleague and friend from ABC News in New York, who had retired down here–if they knew of anyone selling a house. 

More shocking still—having visited the house Hughes’ friends came up with—to find myself offering the owner the asking price five hours later! Not exactly businesslike, but the truth was I’d fallen in love (coup de foudre)—again.

 Meredith, coup de foudre no. 1 (lightning strike) in 1986, and I were getting married in the summer and though she thought the house was a gem—she must have been asking herself : “Do I need this and a wedding to see to?”

 We were married at the Rosslyn Hill Chapel in Hampstead in August and had our reception at the London Zoo.

We honeymooned at the empty house in the Tarn—empty apart from a couple of large beds a friend had made and some cardboard furniture.

The year was 1990.

To be continued…!

Thanks everyone for your continuing support–I am getting a big kick from doing it–and from reading your comments.

A trés bientôt…

rxx

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Eating a painting…

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Poldark, tagged , , on August 19, 2011| 8 Comments »

Still life--salad bowl

We were invited for lunch at our friends Donald and Emma’s yesterday.

Donald Douglas of that ilk!

He who gave up chasing me over the Cornish cliffs dressed as Captain McNeil years ago (sensible fellow) and settled down a few miles from us here in France.

I’m always slightly wary of visits to Donald–never sure he hasn’t a troop of redcoats hidden in the stable–just kidding!

Donald, apart from being a fine actor, is a talented gardener and an artist–happy experimenting in any medium.

Even food.

This is chilled Red and Yellow Pepper Soup with chives.

Or is it a painting?

Three (Robin, Donald, and friend Miranda) about to eat the painting...

No–it’s lunch.

In fact–it’s an edible action painting.

He makes the two soups–being careful they are of the same consistency–and fills two jugs.

He chills them and when the guests are seated he starts to “paint”–pouring from both jugs at the same time.

He adds a swirl of cream and a large pinch of chives to each bowl and hey presto–

ART you could EAT!!

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White House Stories…

Posted in other sides to this life, Poldark, tagged , , , , , , on May 24, 2011| 15 Comments »

In the middle of filming the second series of Poldark, Angharad and I went on a PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)  promotional tour of the States. The first series had just started to play there. It was late spring 1977.

Boston, New York, Washington, and Dallas.

Five days–four cities; crazy, glamorous and fun.

At nine o’clock, the morning after arriving in Washington, we were given a private tour of Jimmy Carter’s White House–including the Oval Office.

Bleary-eyed and jet-lagged at the time, I recall very little.

Did  “Ross Poldark”–veteran of the losing side in the War of Independence–back in enemy territory, cheekily sit–momentarily–in the seat of power behind the desk?

I sincerely hope not!

Fast forward forty two and half years and I was in Washington again–with Meredith this time, to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama as President.

It was a bitter cold day with a brilliant blue sky and in the streets a solid mass of people were proceeding slowly towards the Mall to hear the new President speak.

There was a palpable feeling of hope and expectation in the air–of healing and renewal.

Meredith was elated–she had a ticket for the enclosure in front of the Capitol.

When I dropped her off at the subway at six a.m., she was clutching her purple ticket in her hand.

Four hours later she called me on the cell phone–in tears–to say there was a problem at the purple gate and it wasn’t looking good.

In the end 10,000 people failed to get through the purple gate!

Poor Meredith joined us at our friend’s club close by, to watch it all on television.

She calls it an inexplicable “snafu”–nobody ever found out exactly what went wrong.

Snafu!

A couple of glasses of champagne and the sight of history being made helped to restore her spirits.

A little over two hundred years after Captain Ross Poldark limped home to Cornwall and  General George Washington became the first President of the then thirteen United States of America, an African American was entering the White House as President–which black slaves had helped to build.

It was a momentous day.

Fast forward again—Washington to London yesterday–Stansted to Carcassonne this morning and whoosh–we’re home!

President Obama and the First Lady– forced to curtail their Irish visit by the ash cloud–flew into Stansted last night on their first State visit to the UK.

This morning they met with the present incumbent of “Buck House”, with whom–we’re told–they have very friendly relations.

Buckingham Palace

(George III bought Buckingham House in 1761 for his wife Queen Charlotte–before going on to lose “the Colonies”.)

The world goes around…!

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May Day in Cornwall–many moons ago…

Posted in other sides to this life, Poldark, tagged , , , , , , on May 1, 2011| 22 Comments »

We were filming the second series of Poldark in spring 1977 and were based for a while near the seaside town of Padstow on Cornwall’s north coast.
On May 1st the town is taken over by the ‘Obby ‘Oss (Hobby Horse) Festival–an excuse for a day of communal good natured madness and merriment, with obvious origins in traditional fertility festivals that pop up everywhere at this time of year.
This is the account of it I wrote in my book Making Poldark .
 We’d finished filming the expedition to France,

"Operation Rescue"!

 and it was May Day;  a group of us decided to go to Padstow for the Festival.
We arrived at about 7 pm, and from far away we could hear the beat of the drum and the music.It had been going on for at least twelve hours and the atmosphere was “jolly” –you might say. We rounded the bend and came into a square and there it was! The umpteenth parade of the hobbyhorse in full swing.
The drumbeat was mesmeric and the man inside the hobbyhorse never stopped moving–round and round he went, tempting and teasing the circle of young maidens. A pagan ritual full of fun and danger. Not English at all.


Someone in the crowd recognised me and although George Collins, my dresser, insisted I was his cousin Fred, and not Poldark,  they weren’t convinced!  So we moved on quickly to a pub down the hill.
The beer and the cider were flowing freely, and it happened again and again.
I was bought pasties and pints everywhere. 
A man in one of the pubs came up and said, “You’ve put Cornwall on the map. Thank you.” I was amazed and flattered, a  little embarrassed and by this time somewhat stewed.
We settled down in a corner to listen to the accordionist. We sang and we danced and everyone forgot about Poldark. It was a great night.
I suppose I was naive to think I could go to a big Cornish festival like this and remain anonymous–television is a powerful and popular medium–but as for “putting Cornwall on the map”– on the evidence of this particular evening–it later occurred to me that it might be the other way around.

The Poldarks enjoying a previous 'Obby 'Oss fayre?

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