Six million viewers tuned in to the emotional final episode of Poldark last night – and lamented the end of the first series.

The finale featured the sudden death of Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) and Demelza’s (Eleanor Tomlinson) baby daughter Julia and ended with a cliffhanger which will run into the second series.

Poldark
Eleanor Tomlinson and Aidan Turner star in Poldark (BBC)

The episode peaked with 6.1 million viewers on BBC One, winning its 9pm slot.

It averaged 5.9 million and a 25.4 per cent share of viewers – more than last week but not matching the heights of the first episode – which secured almost seven million.

The instalment left many viewers in tears.

The finale attracted warm reviews, with Allison Pearson in the Daily Telegraph saying that it was “hard to remember a more emotionally pummelling hour of television drama”.

On Digital Spy, Cameron K McEwan wrote that it was “a brave move to have such a cheerless finale, but the emotional resonance amid the events of this packed 60 minutes will reward fans immeasurably.”

Ellen E Jones wrote in The Independent: “Poldark is not a sophisticated drama, but the simple things can sometimes be very satisfying.”

Jim Shelley wrote on MailOnline: “There was only one way the nation’s swooning viewers could find brooding, pouting, heartthrob Ross Poldark any more irresistible – make him Tragic. So it proved in the final episode of the swashbuckling Seventies revival.”

The BBC is planning a second series of the Cornish saga.

Debbie Horsfield, who has already written five episodes of the new instalment, hinted that viewers will see Poldark bring “himself to the brink of disaster, and Demelza, a forceful and powerful character in her own right, taken along with him.”

The drama, based on the novels of Winston Graham, was originally made for TV in the 1970s when it attracted audiences of 15 million and the remake has helped BBC One to its highest share of an audience in a decade.