EMOTIONAL baggage

Troubled Brits seek a fresh start in 1950s Australia. But will their Down Under dreams come true?

- SEAN MARLAND, RICHARD MCCLURE.

NEW DRAMA
Ten Pound Poms
Sunday, 9pm, BBC1 (box set, BBC iPlayer)

A group of Brits say goodbye to everything they’ve ever known and book a one-way ticket to the other side of the world in sweeping six-part drama Ten Pound Poms.

Set in 1956, the first episode begins with Terry Roberts (Warren Brown) and his wife Annie (Faye Marsay) signing up for the Australian government’s assisted migration scheme in a bid to escape a dreary post-war Britain.

First initiated in 1945 and still running in the 1970s, the scheme saw more than a million Brits relocate to Australia for just £10, as the government tried to increase the country’s population and to supply workers for booming industries.

For Terry and his family, there’s the prospect of a nicer house, better jobs and a life filled with sun and sea. However, when they arrive Down Under, they find the reality less idyllic than promised.