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 didn't even know there was this subsidised scheme for migration to Australia in real life till now

For anyone who is watching whole series via iPlayer there is a spoiler thread here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/ten-pound-poms-contains-spoilers

Same @purpleme12

As in i May have kinda read about it years ago but prob didn't take much notice

It's really interesting and love hearing real life mn experiences

In my history book many moons ago now at school I remember seeing the adverts for people to move abroad to Australia for work. Also one with the picture of a child , I think this was the scheme for those who would then be adopted over there. Which is what may have happened to Kate's little boy , although we don't know for sure , but looks likely.
My parents spoke about it too, but as my uncle had emigrated there and married an Australian lady , maybe this is why is it spoken about.
Some of those children had a terrible time.

There's a good film called Oranges and Sunshine about children being shipped over from Uk. The description of it is

"Until the early 1970s, thousands of British children many orphans, others taken by social workers from broken homes were packed onto ships bound for Australia. Promised "oranges and sunshine," many instead endured abuse in workhouses as virtual slaves. In 1987, Nottingham, England, social worker Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson) learns the horrific extent of this program as she attempts to help two of its survivors, the timid Jack (Hugo Weaving) and the violent Len (David Wenham).

Apologies if that's already been mentioned as I haven't read the whole thread yet

Don't know why some of that cut and paste was crossed out

I couldn't figure out what the MK character was about initially, I thought her behaviour really puzzling but it made sense then - desperately trying to locate her son.

The racism is dreadful.
That awful man, Dean and his actions.

Hasn't Faye Marsay the most stunning blue eyes.

Just catching up with this now.

My grandparents did this, my dad was 6yo when they went out. They lasted five years but my grandmother was homesick so they came home.

My dad was then 11yo and said coming back to cold, wet Yorkshire was awful and all the English kids took the piss out of his accent.

Weird to think that I'd not be here if they'd stayed though!

Did the child it my the van die?

Not sure

He may do in e2

I suspect he will

My dad was sponsored by his work so we were very lucky. they paid for 6 months rental in a lovely bungalow near Botany Bay. We spent our first Christmas on the beach at a place called Brighton le Sands, It had a shark net swimming area on the beach. After 6 months my parent bought a fibro bungalow in the Western suburbs>what mum didn't notice, nor did I! - was at the back of the house was a small building attached - this was the outside dunny emptied once a week - there was a bathroom inside and a laundry room with the water heater. The sewer system got to our area in a just under 2 years.
Dad did very well work wise and after changes companies he got several promotions. Mum started work out there - funnily enough in a shop and had no previous experience.
My eldest sister found work quite quickly. My next up sister and I were at school which was definitely different from UK!. My parents stayed for quite a few years but by that time my older sisters were married and stayed

This is my history , my parents went as ten pounds poms got married in Australia and I was born there ,
They had a great time although they ended up back here due to family issues .
They both said they didn't experience this kind of racism but assume it's exaggerated for dramatic purposes
My mum was only 19 when she went amazing really not knowing anyone

So lovely to read about those whose families went and their experiences

Kate's story became a bit confusing, couldn't work out what she was doing near the end.
Someone upthread said nobody would have said Hiya in 1956. I'm pretty certain in Manchester at that time, people were saying that.

@mumwon did you and your parents go back to the UK and your sisters stayed in Australia? If so, did/do you get to see them much?

How old are you Clawdy? I'm going off what I've been told by family - working class from Manchester.

I thought Kate wanted to get her own photo, but the penny dropped about her child being taken to Australia. She had no intention of going with the fiancé but knew she couldn't apply alone.

What actually happened to the fiancé? He looked dead and then she was seen putting little bottles in her bag. Or did she leave him asleep and lose him.in the queue? As soon as he woke up surely he would say he'd lost his fiancée. I was a bit confused there.

WeAreTheHeroes I was at primary school in Manchester that year, and think I remember saying it, but I could be wrong! Interesting.

She drugged him and went without him. He's alive because he told her mother to tell him when she heard from her.

Yes agree with @WeAreTheHeroes' interpretation

Yes agree with @WeAreTheHeroes' interpretation

Ah thanks. So he didn't even get on the ship. It was all a bit rushed at the start. I didn't realise the man shouting at her mother was the same person.

Although think he might be a wrong un as well

yeah ,he seemed v intimidating when talking to the mother .
If it was a rule that single women couldn't go alone how come they let her proceed ?