Poldark’s resilience helped me turn round my business

‘The mine became my odd internal shorthand for my practice.’ Illustration: Martin O’Neill

I discovered the TV series Poldark about a year into a new business, an ill-fitting professional identity, and life in a new city. Having worked for others since dental school, I’d taken possession of a practice the year I turned 30.

The practice needed serious refurbishment. I bought it despite dire warnings that my plans for the building, and the way I wanted to treat patients, couldn’t keep a practice in the black. After months of frigid rooms (the building barely had central heating) and frantic clinics, being constantly reminded I hadn’t yet accrued years of trust like the previous owner, I found myself in the upstairs office at 8pm on a Monday, weeping over a spreadsheet.