Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

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

378 replies

Blondeshavemorefun · 08/05/2023 13:49

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

OP posts:
the80sweregreat · 15/05/2023 11:14

Children being sent there unaccompanied was sad.
I remember a documentary on the one show about people who ended up with other families or in care ; it was pretty brutal and the conditions were really harsh

JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon · 15/05/2023 12:03

Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 10:14

I did like the boss. Rather cute

Winder what happened to his leg

I assumed polio

rileynexttime · 15/05/2023 12:45

Building accident was my thought .

Mammyloveswine · 15/05/2023 13:24

SilentParrot · 15/05/2023 10:41

I watched this because I quite fancy Warren Brown. Michelle Keegan's microbladed brows and filled lips looked a bit incongruous for the era.

I'm in love with warren brown... even though I'll never got over his rapist character in hollyoaks! Loved him in Luther!

I'm enjoying episode one! Def think the daughter is pregnant... MK is a bit sus...

I think the huts look quite nice! Very glamping!

hopeishere · 15/05/2023 13:24

I thought it was ok for a Sunday night show.

Daughter is definitely pregnant but did she know before she left?

Mammyloveswine · 15/05/2023 13:32

It reminds me a bit of the programme on a few years ago set in Kuwait? With Jenny from call the midwife?

the80sweregreat · 15/05/2023 13:38

After the war the councils built ' pre fabs' as temporary council housing and these places on screen reminded me of that type of housing. One floor only , although many did have indoor plumbing , unlike these ones seem to have

Original poster
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 13:45

Oh. I didn't think of polio but makes sense

I wondered why they showed him with it - as maybe a back story

OP posts:
Sunnycornwallanddevon · 15/05/2023 14:00

Kaftanesque · 15/05/2023 10:50

British have always treated those from overseas with contempt?Everyone.Thanks for that.I started work in the 70s and a lot of my colleagues were from the Caribbean and Asia.We worked shifts and we laughed till we cried on our breaks sometimes and shared amazing food .Not everyone is prejudiced you know.

I think you're taking it a bit personally there...

rileynexttime · 15/05/2023 14:02

Good point re back story Blondes - they wouldn't have shown the leg if no relevance to something that will be revealed later .

Original poster
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 14:27

rileynexttime · 15/05/2023 14:02

Good point re back story Blondes - they wouldn't have shown the leg if no relevance to something that will be revealed later .

I have the odd brain wave @rileynexttime 😂

OP posts:
the80sweregreat · 15/05/2023 14:39

I was surprised it was only six weeks on the ship to Australia. I Thought it would be eight weeks or more in those days.
Was a big gamble going out there for a few years. No internet to check out the accommodation or anything

RoseBucket · 15/05/2023 15:50

Taytocrisps · 14/05/2023 23:37

I really enjoyed the first episode. I've heard the expression 'whingeing pom' but I didn't realize the Australians resented the British so much. Why? Was it because it meant more competition for jobs? I don't know anyone who went to Australia in the '50s - I think most Irish people from that generation went to the UK or the US. It's been interesting to read the real experiences on this thread. Sounds like a mixed bag irl - some people thrived and others didn't.

I'm assuming Terry will now descend into full blown alcoholism. Will Annie be able to support the family if she gets the supervisor job? At first I thought the little boy was Kate's little brother but then I figured he was her son. She's obviously keen to get away from her fiance (domestic abuse?) but is he the father of her son? And I'd like to know more about the blonde lady.

Their clothes must have been so unsuitable for a hot climate.

I'm a child of the '70s so I remember tealeaves. They were horrible. Even with the tea strainer, some of the leaves would escape into the tea.

I thought it was very unlikely that Kate would have been able to phone the UK from the hospital. That phone call would have been so expensive - there's no way the hospital would have allowed it.

Looking forward to episode 2 next Sunday.

@Taytocrisps the Irish we’re treated badly by the English also when they moved to England. Lots of ‘no Irish’ in pubs and in residential lodgings.

whirlyhead · 15/05/2023 15:57

We spent 32 days on a migrant ship getting to NZ in the 70s. I still remember the trip and the large storm we hit in the bay of biscay. The entire ship including crew were seasick it was that bad. We were walking on the walls!!!

funnily enough I’ve never wanted to go
on a cruise.

HeartStarRose · 15/05/2023 18:29

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/05/2023 22:06

Apparently the weeks in the boat were like a holiday (to working class people from Sheffield at that time) but it was a bit grim when they got there.

This might have been the case for some (ie seeing the six week boat journey as a holiday), but for others the boat journey was nothing like a holiday. It was cramped with some very rough weather, terrible seasickness for weeks on end, being short of food if the boat couldn't be safely docked due to storms. People fell ill (or fell over and had accidents).

CaptainMyCaptain · 15/05/2023 18:31

HeartStarRose · 15/05/2023 18:29

This might have been the case for some (ie seeing the six week boat journey as a holiday), but for others the boat journey was nothing like a holiday. It was cramped with some very rough weather, terrible seasickness for weeks on end, being short of food if the boat couldn't be safely docked due to storms. People fell ill (or fell over and had accidents).

Show quote history

That's what my husband's uncles thought anyway. They enjoyed it.

Original poster
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 18:57

whirlyhead · 15/05/2023 15:57

We spent 32 days on a migrant ship getting to NZ in the 70s. I still remember the trip and the large storm we hit in the bay of biscay. The entire ship including crew were seasick it was that bad. We were walking on the walls!!!

funnily enough I’ve never wanted to go
on a cruise.

6/8hrs is enough for me and throwing up

Boats and I don't mix

6/8 w would prob kill me vja dehydration of being sick

OP posts:
martinisforeveryone · 15/05/2023 19:20

I had to download and watch it via iplayer on a small ipad. The quality wasn't great really, the picture seemed very dark. I think I missed some of the nuances.
I think I'll keep watching due to curiosity about where they're going with it and, frankly, I have nothing else going on for Sunday evenings.

Toddlerteaplease · 15/05/2023 19:52

Watching now. It's really dark and I have no idea what's going on. It's a bit boring to be honest.

Original poster
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 20:51

I really enjoyed it

OP posts:
Aquarius1234 · 15/05/2023 21:35

The only really tedious annoying part of the drama is the supposed pregnancy every single time there's a teenager in any programme!
I didn't even catch how old she was around 15 or younger?
Anyway as I said really really predictable really really predictable it would have been better making her lgbtq.

Original poster
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 22:01

I did miss the photo of the black man (presumes bf)

Yes a teenage unwed preg is bad many years but guessing back then and the way the black lady was treated in the store , that if a white girl was preg /gave birth to a black baby - she would sadly
Be an outcast 🥲

OP posts:
purpleme12 · 15/05/2023 22:54

The racism on here is a hard watch

purpleme12 · 15/05/2023 23:02

And that Dean who was driving the car is just really creepy

Original poster
Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2023 23:39

purpleme12 · 15/05/2023 22:54

The racism on here is a hard watch

Sadly even 50/60/70yrs on hadn't changed much 🥲🥲

OP posts: