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BBC signs Aidan Turner up for third series of Poldark

Aidan Turner is to return as Ross Poldark in the hit adaptation of Winston Graham's novel
Aidan Turner is to return as Ross Poldark in the hit adaptation of Winston Graham's novel Aidan Turner is to return as Ross Poldark in the hit adaptation of Winston Graham's novel

POLDARK will return for a third series in 2017, the BBC has confirmed.

The corporation has snapped up Aidan Turner, who has been hotly tipped to play James Bond since becoming a household name playing Cornish mine owner Ross Poldark in the hit adaptation of Winston Graham's novel, for a third round before the second series has even aired.

He will be back on television screens in the autumn alongside Eleanor Tomlinson, who plays his wife Demelza and the third series will begin filming around the same time in Bristol and Cornwall.

Scriptwriter Debbie Horsfield will be adapting the fifth and sixth books in Graham's Poldark collection for next year's series.

Set in 1794, the French Revolution will provide the backdrop to the drama as Poldark encounters "new family, new loves and new battles".

The debut series peaked with 9.4 million viewers across TV and iPlayer and won the Radio Times Audience Award at this year's Baftas.

Damien Timmer, managing director of Mammoth Screen who make the show, said: "Poldark is a passion project for all of us, and it's with real excitement that we prepare for both the launch of series two and our return to Cornwall to shoot series three.

"Winston Graham and Debbie Horsfield's extraordinary flair for storytelling means the saga of Ross, his friends and enemies will go to even more thrilling places."