At least half the audience may have been paying very close attention to the hunky leading man . But some viewers of Poldark will have appreciated the delightfully rustic charms of the backdrop to this story of love , jealousy and passion . In the BBC drama , the bustling town of Truro is a lost world of 18th-century wooden shop fronts , muddy thoroughfares and pens of geese and sheep . Which goes to prove how cleverly the producers disguised the fact that it is actually a real-life English market town a long horse ride from the series ’ rugged Cornish setting . Scroll down for video . The Red Lion street market that 's really a parking bay : The fictional pub The Red Lion , and its large wooden sign , was added to the street . Pens for animals , as well as a vegetable stall and a Punch and Judy show , were added to create a typical scene from the period . Demelza 's dirt road that 's really got yellow lines : The street where Poldark and his future wife Demelza walked is a real row of terrace houses in Corsham . The producers hid the modern double yellow lines under a fake dirt-covered road that looked as though it was from another era . Saddlery that 's really a curry house : With its panelled frontage and rows of saddles , Truscott and Son is entirely convincing as an 18th-century saddlery . But the elaborate facade was required to hide a much more modern stalwart of the High Street - the Indian restaurant . Haque 's Indian Cuisine had its signature green shop front hidden behind a carefully crafted set , complete with barrel and harness stands . When Captain Ross Poldark rescued his future wife , Demelza , from a gang of thugs in the first episode of the eight-part series , he was not in Cornwall at all , but more than 150 miles away in Corsham , Wiltshire . Though its stone buildings look believable on screen , these photographs reveal how the town usually looks — complete with Indian restaurant and baby clothes shop . The film crew arrived in town over the May Bank Holiday weekend , and the familiar shop fronts and neat parking spaces began to be replaced by dirt-covered roads , rickety carts and wandering horses . Tell-tale signs of the modern age , such as phone boxes and road signs , were cleverly hidden inside wooden shacks , or temporarily removed . The changes took just one weekend to complete , and took many residents by surprise . One told BBC News at the time : ‘ It ’ s exciting , I didn ’ t know it was happening . I ’ ve just come down to the jeweller ’ s and found it all changed. ’ Rope store that 's really a flower shop : Theodora 's flower show may have been in Corsham for 25 years but there was no space for it in Poldark 's Truro . Tor turn it into a store for fishing equipment , the TV crew covered over the modern florist 's shop with a weathered wooden casing and accessorised it with benches , baskets , fishing tackle and coils of rope . You can almost smell the sea ... Wheelwright 's that 's really a baby boutique : Vickery the wheelwright 's is actually a children 's clothes shop , so the colourful shop front had to be boarded over and the nearby modern metal gate hidden behind panelling . The road was covered and the pavement intentionally scuffed to turn back the centuries . A panoply of wheelwright 's instruments were placed in front of the 18th-century store . Shed that 's a phone box : A phone box was cleverly hidden in a wooden shed and a hay cart added to complete the rustic look . Filming took just a week and people were allowed to use the High Street between scenes , as many businesses stayed open . A council spokesman said any shops which saw trading hit by the temporary intrusion were compensated by the production company . ‘ Most people loved it , and thoroughly enjoyed the experience . Over the course of a week , more and more people came to watch. ’ With more than six million viewers tuning in to each of the first three episodes of the series , Poldark ’ s brooding leading man Aidan Turner has garnered a legion of breathless fans . That success means it may not be long before tourists are beating a path to Corsham , which has already played host to other high-profile productions , including War Horse and The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher . Its latest transformation was so impressive that a special photography exhibition has been arranged by the council showcasing the High Street before and during filming . It ’ s on display in the town hall and closes on Friday — two days before the next bodice-ripping instalment of Poldark .
How the team behind BBC 's Poldark transformed Corsham in Wiltshire into 18th-century Truro in Cornwall . The BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel was a huge hit and has been adapted for TV several times since. Tell-tale signs of the modern age were cleverly hidden or temporarily removed - all in just one weekend .