50 Best TV Shows on Amazon Prime Video Right Now

25. Poldark (2015-2019)

5 Seasons

Created by Debbie Horsfield, based on the novels by Winston Graham

Starring Aiden Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, Heida Reed, Jack Farthing

There are many book adaptations out there, but none quite hit the mark in the way that Poldark. Rather than attempt to tell the full story Winston Graham created, Debbie Horsfield and her team of writers adapted multiple books at the same time, telling a stronger tale for the screen.

You know what happened during the American Revolutionary War in the United States, but what about the aftermath back in England? That’s something fans get to learn as they follow Capt. Ross Poldark back to his hometown of Cornwall, where he finds out his father has died and his true love is going to marry someone who most certainly isn’t him.

Does he end up marrying his love? Not quite. Instead, he meets Demelza, a woman dressed as a boy who is regularly beaten by her father. He decides to offer her work as a kitchen maid in his run-down, in debt family estate, which also includes lodgings. Now he needs to figure out how to run the copper mines he’s been left and help the tenants on his father’s estate.

It’s a story of love, loss, and the aftermath of a war that he never necessarily wanted to fight in. More importantly, it’s a story of life. Poldark isn’t perfect and that’s okay! In fact, it adds a layer to him that other works of fiction can’t.

All five seasons of Poldark are currently on Amazon Prime Video.

Next: Catastrophe