The first Poldark series was based on four early novels by Winston Graham – Ross Poldark, Demelza, Jeremy Poldark and Warleggan - which were adapted in 1976. The second series, a year later, was based on three novels which Graham had written in the early 1970s, supposedly concluding the Poldark saga and introducing several new characters. These novels were called The Black Moon, The Four Swans and The Angry Tide, and as they ended with the death of a key character, that seemed to be the last of the Poldarks. However, in the 1980s Graham produced three more novels – The Stranger From the Sea, The Miller's Dance and The Loving Cup – chronicling the lives of the next generation. The first of these was made into a one-off drama in 1996, but was not well received, perhaps because the original actors were replaced by others, perhaps because the story of the next Poldark generation was less engrossing than the first.
