24-04-2025
Poldark fans - get ready for your next period drama binge 10 years later
It's been ten years since Aidan Turner first hit screens as Captain Ross Poldark and swept fans away with the BBC programme's gripping drama, leaving fans devastated when it came to an end after five seasons.
But a decade later, and we may have just found your next fix.
2024 miniseries The Count of Monte Cristo will be launching on UKTV's free-to-air channel U&Drama and streaming service U this summer.
The epic historical adventure drama, based on Alexandre Durmas's classic novel of the same name, stars Daisy Jones & the Six actor Sam Claflin and House of Gucci's Jeremy Irons.
Sam stars as young sailor Edmond Dantes, who was falsely accused of treason and imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseille.
After many years of captivity during which he is educated by a fellow prisoner, he finally escapes and takes on the identity of the wealthy and enigmatic Count of Monte Cristo.
The synopsis teases: 'With his newfound resources, he embarks on a journey of revenge on those who have wrongly accused him.'
The series also stars The Gilded Age's Karla-Simone Spence, Harry Taurasi, Poppy Corby Tuech, Ana Girardot and Gabriella Pession.
After premiering in Italy, The Count of Monte Cristo reached immense success with an average of nearly six million viewers.
It's also scored 7.8 on IMDb, with viewer reviews branding the eight-part series 'captivating', 'amazing' and 'magnificent'.
@sjensenstrad said: 'Great acting, great flow in the story, cinematic experience was superb felt like a historical experience and the audio was amazing. Our family, old and young, was glued to the screen for two days.'
'I'm extremely happy with how this series was made. Not only have they found a way to make it realistic, but they've also found a way to make the story so precise that it could have easily happened in reality. One of the few adaptations I can say is wonderful. The cast and locations are breathtaking in their authenticity,' @tactrix added.
@omigen wrote: 'I can honestly say, that I didn't miss a second of this fantastic version of the classic tale. The cast, the direction, the locations… all of it is perfect. Nothing less. I binged it all through Christmas day and now I don't know what to watch next! It's that kind of adaptation. It's that good. It's worth a second watch, and that's what I will do.'
@reggiemiller-59077 called it 'Television at its finest!' with @tiky-41483 writing: 'The masterful interpretation of the Count of Monte Cristo by the actor Sam Claflin is spectacular, which together with the direction and costumes, photography, gives the spectator an unparalleled cinematic spectacle.'
Filmmaker Bille August revealed in a past interview that he was lured by the project because it's 'all about relationships, the complexities of human beings and in that sense it's very modern and timeless'. More Trending
According to Variety, he said: 'I love The Count of Monte Cristo [it's] a great story about the human being and about person who is so obsessed by revenge that it eats him up from the inside and he is not able to love anymore. That's an important message.'
He added that the series is a 'beautiful love story' despite the darker themes.
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The Count of Monte Cristo will be available to watch on U&Drama this summer.
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