The brand-new BBC drama Ten Pound Poms will make its long-awaited debut on Sunday, May 14. The six-part series starring Michelle Keegan follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure in Australia.
Ten Pound Poms is created by BAFTA-winning Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic, Ordinary Lies) and produced by Eleven, the team behind the award-winning and Welsh-filmed Sex Education. Speaking about the plot, which was inspired by the real families that moved from Britain to Australia in the wake of World War II, Danny said: "After World War II, more than a million Brits were enticed to emigrate to Australia for just £10. In return, they were promised a better house, better job prospects, and a better quality of life by the sea in sun-soaked Australia."
Explaining that there was something about the idea that "really appealed" to him, Danny added: "I've not written a period drama before, for good reason, because they’re generally quite tricky to make good. But I was drawn to the themes of escape, of no matter where we go, we take our problems with us – something which is ever present in my work – and the fact that this was a piece of our history that I didn't know much about. It’s a period piece that isn't all bonnets and frocks - and the more I looked into it, the more I thought: 'Yeah, there’s definitely a TV series here. I'm in.'"
Read more: First-look trailer for Michelle Keegan's brand new drama Ten Pound Poms as BBC announces air date
But who stars in Ten Pound Poms, where was it filmed and how many episodes are there? Here's everything you need to know.
Ten Pound Poms plot and is it a true story?
A synopsis reads: "The six-part series follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world. For only a tenner, they have been promised a better house, better job prospects and a better quality of life by the sea in sun-soaked Australia.
"But life down under isn’t exactly the idyllic dream the new arrivals have been promised. Struggling with their new identity as immigrants, we follow their triumphs and pitfalls as they adapt to a new life in a new country far from Britain and familiarity."
The characters and the stories in Ten Pound Poms are works of fiction, but the Assisted Migration scheme of the 1950s, which intended to substantially increase the population of Australia and to supply workers for the country’s booming industries, did exist.
Ten Pound Poms is a colloquial term used to describe British citizens who migrated to Australia and New Zealand after the Second World War. According to the BBC, the Ten Pound Poms scheme attracted more than a million migrants from the British Isles between 1945 and 1972.
Ten pounds, which is the equivalent of around £350 today, bought a six-week assisted passage on chartered ships and aircraft and the promise of good employment prospects, affordable housing, endless sunshine, and a brand new, more optimistic life down under. However, as the series explores, on arrival, migrants were sometimes placed in basic migration hostels and the expected job opportunities were not always readily available.
Migrants were required to remain in Australia for two years or refund the cost of their assisted passage. The cost of a return journey to Britain was at least £120, some £4,200 in today’s money which most could not afford.
Well-known participants that took part in the scheme included former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who migrated with her family from Barry, Glamorgan, Wales in 1966 aged four. Her parents hoped the warmer climate would help cure her lung infection. As well as Kylie and Dannii Minogue, both born in Melbourne, who are the daughters of Ten Pound Poms.
BBC Ten Pound Poms cast list
Michelle Keegan - Kate Thorne
Faye Marsay - Annie Roberts
Warren Brown - Terry Roberts
Hattie Hook - Pattie Roberts
Finn Treacy - Peter Roberts
Stephen Curry - JJ Walker
David Field - Dean
Emma Hamilton - Sheila Anderson
Leon Ford - Bill Anderson
Berynn Schwerdt - Arty
Cheree Cassidy - Marlene
Rob Collins – Ron
BBC Ten Pound Poms filming locations
All of the filming took place in Australia. Speaking about some of the places they filmed Warren Brown, who plays Terry said: "Some of the most challenging scenes were ones we shot in a place called Carcoar in New South Wales which is about three and a half hours outside Sydney, over the Blue Mountains.
"This is where you get to see Terry’s struggles, his efforts to fit in with the workforce around him. The Roberts family have come to Australia in the heat of the summer, it’s baking hot - but it was actually p*****g it down. I mean there was snow on a couple of the days that we were filming. I was wearing very little in freezing temperatures and it was pretty hard."
How many episodes of Ten Pound Poms are there?
Ten Pound Poms is a six-part series with the first episode kicking off on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday, May 14. It will air weekly on BBC One with all episodes available on iPlayer immediately. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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