TEN POUND POMS - SUNDAY 9pm bbc. TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

In dreary postwar Manchester, Annie Roberts is at her wits end when husband Terry spends all his wages down the pub. Desperate for a better life for her children, Annie responds to an emigration advert that promises Brits a prosperous new life in Australia for a tenner. Expecting whitewashed houses and sun-soaked adventures, the Roberts family arrive in Sydney to find life down under isn't quite what they've been sold.

Ten Pound Poms is the new original drama series created by BAFTA-winning Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic, Ordinary Lies) produced by Eleven, the team behind the award-winning Sex Education. A co-production between BBC and Stan, the series will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and as a Stan Original Series in Australia.

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.

At the heart of the drama are Annie (Faye Marsay) and Terry Roberts (Warren Brown). They try to make the best of the situation for their family, but the poor living conditions at the hostel and local attitudes towards immigrants test them in ways they couldn’t have imagined.

They aren’t the only people at the hostel avoiding the truth. Kate (Michelle Keegan) is a young nurse who arrives without her fiancé and will do whatever it takes to try and rewrite her devastating past.

Bill (Leon Ford) has lost his family business back home and is so desperate to prove he’s living the Australian dream that he’ll stop at nothing in order to get a lifestyle he can’t sustain.

Teenager Stevie (Declan Coyle) comes from a troubled background and hopes to use this new adventure to escape his oppressive father.

Meanwhile Ron (Rob Collins), an indigenous Australian war veteran, struggles with feeling like an outsider in his own country.

Cast
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

I’m wondering if the accountant husband is homosexual? When he found his wife in bed with JJ, he said something to her like “you knew what you were getting when you married me”
and later he said he gave her permission.
So was he giving her permission to sleep with JJ as he is homosexual and can’t satisfy her sexual needs?

I’m not sure if I’m thinking too deeply about him!

Also, pregnant daughter, did the boy she kissed feel the pregnancy? I wonder if he might offer to marry her and be the baby’s dad ?

Kate - I think she might see that the boy (her son) had loving and kind adoptive parents, a nice house etc, and realise that he would be better off if she leaves him well alone

I said that @Twospaniels He seemed at if he felt baby kick or her bump

No I don't think he's homosexual.
When he said I gave you permission, he meant he was giving her permission to go back to England.
(But of course he meant she'd have to go without the kids).

Yes the boy felt the baby bump.
Although I can't see him offering to marry her and be the dad!

This last episode is so ridiculously far fetched! I’m not enjoying it at all!!!

That woman singing in the boat was so annoying.
I'm Just glad it's over with.
Such a depressing drama all round

Do you think they originally planned for it to be 8 or 10 episodes but for some reason they cut it. There were so many story lines yet most weren't closed like:
The fish and chip shop
The aboriginal boy who was injured
The stolen cash

It took 5 months to film!

So Kate drove away into the distance with Michael..taking him away from his safe family home...after he said he wanted her to take him back to his new family...

The ending was rubbish. So many loose ends. Was that Sheila welcoming the migrants at the end? I was so confused as she was meant to be about 20 years older, if it was her, but the clothing of the migrants still looked very 50s in style.

I thought it was JJ's Mum at the end with the newbies ?
Arty's demise was horrible:
The accountant not getting caught for that poor boy being framed , that was forgotten. He was a nasty piece of work.
I did miss episode four, but didn't even bother to catch up with it.

I assumed she took him back because he told her he wanted to go home now meaning his new home

It was JJ's mum at the end.

Do you think the loose ends and the new arrivals are setting it up for a second series?

Yes and I thought the new batch had an Eastern European look about them - I think it was the hats. Maybe they were Jewish refugees so more opportunities for the racism angle. Maybe I'm just imagining that.

I think they've set it up for a second series.

I was also confused as to who it was at the end - it looked like both JJ's mother and an older Sheila. It being JJ's mother is the one that makes most sense though!

This series was a massive disappointment. It could have been really good. I have family who went over through that scheme and I know it was really hard at the beginning and a real culture shock. It’s a good basis for a drama. There were so many storylines in this drama, it was too much - teen pregnancy, PTSD, racism, etc.I found the main family- the Roberts - very annoying by the end.

the time line seemed odd. surely even allowing for 6 weeks passing(boyfriend would have taken 6 weeks to get there) the baby would have been prem surely??
what was the point of killing that bloke off.
Kate driving off with the boy?? kidnap surely.

I think there's an unspecified amount of time before the fiancé finds out where Kate is but yes, that baby surely had to be premature. The timeline is quite fuzzy I think.

I agree.

I binged it a while back. Glad everyone caught up now.
I felt that Kate took the boy back to adoptive mum.
far too much going on and could have been so much better.
the new batch definitely didn’t look British. This series was pretty rubbish but I’m so pathetic with tv that I will probably end up watching a 2nd series as well. The tv companies must love viewers like me!

Kate said she'd take Michael back but that they were going on a little trip first (or something along those lines)

I thought they had had a little drive round (the trip?) then he said 'Can I go home now please' and she just sighed. Then I assumed she took him back where he wanted to be. I did wonder how old he was when he went into the children's home, he must have been very young if he didn't recognize her at all.

What became of Sheila ?
I wanted the accountant guy to get caught being a horrible nasty villain
I liked Annie's boss lady. The only one I did like

My version is that Sheila was saved by JJ and they lived happily ever after with the twins in a nice suburb of Sydney and she also became a famous singer 😆

Sheila had an annoying voice !
Although JJ seemed ok
Better than his mum

I'm sad enough to check on iplayer

Michael asks to go home, Kate says "to England?" And Michael says, "no, to mummy".

then Kate says "yeah, I'll take you home. (Long pause) after we go for a little drive... just us two... real mummy and Michael".

so, fairly ambiguous as to whether she kidnapped him or took him home after a little drive. Perfect for a second series.

I think he looked around 4 or 5 on the train station scenes so not that young and not that long ago. I'm surprised he doesn't have any memory of Kate.