Cornwall – have you got its autograph yet?

With the new Poldark series about to start on BBC One on March 8, we’ve got our Sunday evenings sorted for a bit, thank you.   But to while away the wait, we’ve been totting up just how many times Cornwall, and in particular Holywell Bay, has featured in hit television and film dramas. We’ve lost count actually, but Holywell beach was surely the star of last year’s Jamaica Inn, and it pretty much stole the show in the 2013 period piece Summer In February too. And did you spot Cornwall’s best beach and the iconic Gull Rocks  in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, with Pierce Brosnan?  What’s more, our local media have this week been alerting us all to the fact that filming is about to start for the next Doc Martin series, and the production company are putting out the usual call for extras (keep your eyes peeled, you never know who you might recognise!).

But the real Cornwall is better than anything you ever see on the screen, wouldn’t you agree? Digital mastery can never recreate the feeling of warm, dry sand on bare feet , nor that lovely sensation of heels and toes sinking gently into the soft, wet sand that the tide leaves behind. Actors and actresses (and we forgive them their often appalling accents) bring all their talents to the job but give us the genuine, unrehearsed warmth of family chit-chat around the barbecue any day.

So whilst we’re looking forward to Ross and Demelza Poldark spicing up our Sundays, what we’re really waiting for is you lot! It’s all very well having what is effectively the most beautiful filmset in the world on our doorstep, but we like it best when it’s buzzing with real character. Summer in February? No thanks, we prefer it in June, July and August!