Filming has begun this week on the much anticipated BBC drama Poldark, at The Bottle Yard Studios.

Aidan Turner (pictured above – The Hobbit Trilogy, Being Human) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Death Comes to Pemberley, The White Queen, Jack The Giant Slayer) star as Ross Poldark and Demelza in Debbie Horsfield’s adaptation of Winston Graham’s acclaimed sweeping saga set in 18thcentury Cornwall, made by Mammoth Screen and directed by Ed Bazalgette (The Guilty, Endeavour).

Mammoth Screen is basing production at Studios which will be home to Poldark’s production team for the next six months as they shoot in Bristol and Cornwall.

Also joining the cast are Jack Farthing (Blandings) as ambitious banker George Warleggan, Kyle Solder (Anna Karenina) as Ross’ cousin Francis Poldark, Warren Clarke (Red Riding) as Ross’ uncle Charles Poldark, Phil Davis (Whitechapel) as Ross’ lazy manservant Jud and Beatie Edney (Poirot) as Jud’s wife Prudie, Alexander Arnold (Skins) as Ross’ farm hand Jim Carter and Robert Daws (Holby) as Dr Choake. Robin Ellis, who played Ross in the original television adaptation of Poldark, will be joining the cast for two episodes to play Reverend Halse.

Poldark Producer Eliza Mellor says: “We chose The Bottle Yard Studios as they have great spaces for our set builds, give us outstanding access to Cornwall where we film over the summer and are increasingly a thriving production centre which makes it a really good base for the Poldark team.”

Fiona Francombe, Managing Director of The Bottle Yard Studios says: “We’re delighted to welcome Mammoth Screen, the latest new customer to choose the Studios as the best facility for its shoot. Poldark’s production team have been busy building sets onsite and creating the comprehensive costume department that will help bring this highly anticipated drama to the screen. The Studios are bustling with activity – just the way we like it.”

Britain is in the grip of a chilling recession… falling wages, rising prices, civil unrest – only the bankers are smiling. It’s 1783 and Ross Poldark returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall to find his world in ruins: his father dead, the family mine long since closed, his house wrecked and his sweetheart pledged to marry his cousin. But Ross finds that hope and love can be found when you are least expecting it in the wild but beautiful Cornish landscape.

The 8 x 60-minutes series is adapted by Debbie Horsfield and made by Mammoth Screen for BBC One. It is produced by Eliza Mellor and the executive producers are Debbie Horsfield, Karen Thrussell and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen and Polly Hill, Head of Independent Drama, for the BBC. Filming will take place across Cornwall and Bristol over the coming months and the series will transmit in 2015 on BBC One.