Poldark, Season Two on MASTERPIECE

SPECIAL TWO-HOUR PREMIERE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 AT 8PM ET

Continues Sunday, October 2, 2016 at 9pm ET

Sundays, October 16 - November 27, 2016 at 9pm ET*

*Pre-empted on Sunday, October 9, 2016

· Neither pestilence, starvation, nor betrayal can stop Ross Poldark from fighting for justice in his native Cornwall. Aidan Turner (The Hobbit) returns as the ex-officer, class warrior, lover, and mining entrepreneur, called by the New York Times "the noblest, hottest, most down-to-earth hero."

· At the start of Season 2, Ross stands accused of murder and "wrecking" - luring a cargo ship to the rocks for plunder. It's a capital offense, the judge is unsympathetic, hostile witnesses have been bribed and Ross appears headed for the gallows. It's just the first in a string of suspenseful episodes every bit as precipitous as the steep cliffs of Cornwall.

MASTERPIECE Studio Podcasts with cast members including Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Heida Reed will be available here: pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/podcast-book-club/

Poldark, Season 2 is a Mammoth Screen production for the BBC and MASTERPIECE. Based on the novels by Winston Graham, it is written and created for television by Debbie Horsfield, produced by Margaret Mitchell and directed by Will Sinclair, Charles Palmer and Richard Senior. The executive producers are Debbie Horsfield, Karen Thrussell and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Elizabeth Kilgarriff for the BBC and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE. It is distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

The top-rated primetime show on PBS, MASTERPIECE is celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2016. MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer. Funding for Poldark, Season 2 is provided by Viking River Cruises and Audible with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust. MASTERPIECE is known for presenting iconic shows such as Upstairs Downstairs, Prime Suspect, The Forsyte Saga, Poldark, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey.