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

No not lots (she still lived overseas (not aus) but she met the love of her life there and emigrated elsewhere. There are photos and she looked so glamorous stepping onto the boat

We spent 32 days on an immigration boat getting there which I do remember! Kiwis weren’t very welcoming to migrants back in the 70s but my parents found good jobs and the school system was excellent. I did get a bit tired of being called a whinging Pom and being told to go back home.

My dad loved it out there, my mother less so and she became quite depressed.

I have absolutely no relationship with any extended family members though as back then there was no way of keeping in touch and I was very young. I have no recollection of grandparents etc but that doesn’t bother me at all.

Does anyone know if all of the episodes are going to available from Sunday night?

My husband's parents were emigrated in the 60s as ten pound poms and my husband was born in Australia. My father in law loved it, my mother in law not so much! They came back to Ireland in the mid 70s when they inherited a farm. My husband always wanted to return to Oz, and we eventually did ten years ago. So I'm looking forward to this!

These stories from people whose relatives went are really interesting. So much to learn from mumsnet!

My aunt and uncle went to Oz on the assisted passage scheme in the 60s. First they lived in a hostel, then in a house with the toilet at the bottom of the garden - the road was a cinder track because houses and roads were being built to accommodate the expected influx of immigrants. DGM used to send parcels of stuff like my aunt's favourite talcum powder and cousin's favourite sweets because the shops were so basic, and phone calls were a highlight of Xmas - I think they actually had to be booked for a certain time. My aunt was homesick for UK weather for years.

They're in their 80s now - hope they can hang on until I get out there next year 😀

Thank you @Blondeshavemorefun for including me again in the heads up.

Most welcome @LadyEloise1

Anyone else who isn't on the list , let me know if want to join and get heads up on blondes on the box 😂

@Looneytune253 @alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 @MrsDanversGlidesAgain @whirlyhead
Wow so interesting and amZing

Seems more real that you know people /your family went there

@Southeastdweller most probably but remember this is weekly tv pace thread so if you binge no spoilers or you gets the wrath of blondes 😂

Totally !!

"Blondes on the Box" - love it.

I was trying to be a b word relating to tv 😂

Can I be added to your ever expanding alert list @Blondeshavemorefun ? This sounds an interesting series, and nice to have one about something new.

Of course 😁

My mum came to Australia as a teenager with her family as Ten pound poms in the 60s. Her family didn't enjoy it and wanted to go back to England but if you left before two years were up then you had to pay back full fares of travel costs. They saved up to go back but then my nan found out she was expecting a 'later in life' baby and they decided to stay in Aus. Mum didn't settle though and went back and forth between England and Aus over the next 15-20 years before finally committing to Aus (I was a toddler and she thought Aus would provide better life) Luckily my dad was happy enough to move but it's hard calling two places home. All the rest of mums family (her parents and 3 siblings) remained in Australia

@TheRealMummyPig so they could leave after 2yrs if not happy

I don't really know much about the ten pounds Pom. Must google it more

As assumes if didnt like it would go home tho guess obv need to afford the travel home

@Blondeshavemorefun I think if they wanted to go home earlier than two years then they had to repay full fare of travel costs for original journey to Aus as well as fund journey back to England. My grandfather had been promised a job in aus which didn't eventuate when they arrived.

So what happened to his job ? Why promise families one if they aren't going to follow through

What's the point in getting families over and dashing their dreams

I'm not sure what happened to his job but I guess things changed during the six week journey it took them via ship. He found another job, in another part of Australia. Mum remembers the racism she experienced as a British teenager in Australia and the awful migrant hostel they had to live in to begin with

Can I please join your ‘Blondes on the Box’ brigade please @Blondeshavemorefun?
Im looking forward to this. My husband’s an Aussie but his ancestors escaped the Irish potato famine some 100 years prior to this scheme. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for them arriving in Adelaide in the 1850’s

I'm joining!

Wow 6w by boat

I thought 18hrs flying was bad enough 12yrs ago

Added you @NotDonna

@TheRealMummyPig interesting about the two year rule. My older uncle went out in 1951 and came back in 1953, then going back to lodge at the very same house he had left. Never spoke to him about it and was unaware when he was alive that he had even been.

Well, I’m glad my parents chose to do the journey as I have some wonderful friends there and also have permanent residency so can go back at any time. But i can see it must have been difficult for my parents going so far away from home and knowing no one there. NZ in the 70s was quite isolated and a bit behind the times. It’s a lot better now.

my folks moved back to the UK in their 70s and proceeded to spend the rest of their days moaning about the price of everything here!

We'll be watching. My husband's uncles went in the 60s. One lived with his family in the huts for 2 years, the other got a job with a house provided quite quickly. They both stayed for the rest of their lives.