SUNDAY EVENING SOAPS

Last night I watched three hours of soap opera on my local public television station. Not everyone will agree with my description of all three as soaps, and the quality among the three most certainly varies. First up was Last Tango in Halifax, with a magnificent cast of fine actors. The episode last evening was eventful, to say the least, and ended with a Perils of Pauline cliffhanger, which I will not spoil. I adore watching the performances of the actors, especially Derek Jacobi's Alan and Anne Reid's Celia. I admire more and more with each episode Nicola Walker's performance as Gillian, Alan's daughter. Sarah Lancashire as Celia's daughter, Caroline, the Ice Queen, is very good, too. The entire cast is superior, and none of the actors strike a false note, so I continue to delight in watching the performances, even as I sometimes roll my eyes at the twists and turns in the plot.

Then on to the new Poldark series, with Aidan Turner as the smoldering, shirtless Poldark, which I admit has improved over the first episode, which was quite disappointing. Poldark smolders less since he married his kitchen maid, Demelza, played by the lovely, flame-haired Eleanor Tomlinson, but he must be shirtless when he democratically shares in the mine digging with his workers. At least one mine owner does what a mine owner's got to do in hard times, and Poldark is not above hard physical work when it's warranted.

The last soap opera series, The Crimson Field, which becomes soapier with each episode, tries my patience, but I will probably continue watching just to see how the story turns out. There will be no second season for the series.