BBC's new drama that follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure in Australia kicked off on Sunday, May 14. Called Ten Pound Poms, the new series, which is produced by the team behind the award-winning and Welsh-filmed Sex Education, stars Michelle Keegan, Faye Marsay, and Warren Brown.
For only a tenner, the group has been promised a better house, better job prospects, and a better quality of life by the sea in sun-soaked Australia. But, as the synopsis states, life down under isn’t exactly the idyllic dream the new arrivals have been promised.
Struggling with their new identity as immigrants, viewers follow their triumphs and pitfalls as they adapt to a new life in a new country far from Britain and familiarity. And while Ten Pound Poms is a work of fiction, 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. You can read more about this here.
