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Ten Pound Poms got me early on, when the trailer made me giggle with everyone arriving in Australia in 1956, and Faye Marsay’s character observing, “You don’t see that in Stockport”, although it goes one better in the actually episode, “You don’t see that in Stockport precinct!”. No, for the past few years, it’s been like a bombsite as they’ve tried to redevelop it, yet shops have been leaving.
Still, ignore that, and do check out the excellent Foodie Friday events they have on the last Friday of each month (except December, when it’s around the middle of the month, otherwise it’d probably come AFTER Christmas)
After Terry Roberts (Warren Brown – Desperate Measures) collapses on the street, his wife, Annie (Faye Marsay – Andor), sees a newspaper advert, then gets the idea that they could have a much better life in Australia, and it’ll only cost £10 each. They’ll have a proper garden, even with a palm tree! Ah, if life was only so simple, since we DEFINITELY don’t get that in Stockport!
Meanwhile, Kate Thorne (Michelle Keegan – Tina And Bobby), has also moved abroad and while Terry’s job, and EVERYONE’s accommodation turns out to leave a fair bit to be desired, at least Kate’s fallen on her feet with her nurse’s job.
So, if you’ve ever wanted to see Ms Keegan in a ’50s nurses outfit, fill your boots!
Annie also gets the chance for a better job than just looking after their kids, but in his new job, Terry comes up against some consternation with an overbearing Aussie, but can they learn to get along? Well, this isn’t exactly ‘The Usual Suspects’ in terms of plotting, even though elsewhere, they do throw in an element of racism for some characters, since this is skated over quite quickly.
Overall, Ten Pound Poms is not brilliant, but it’s quite entertaining, and easy on the eye.
Ten Pound Poms begins on BBC1 tomorrow night at 9pm, and the whole series will then be available on the BBC iPlayer.
The series isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, you can buy the novel in Paperback and Kindle.
Series Directors: Ana Kokkinos, Jamie Magnus Stone
Producer: Anna Elettra Pizzi De Gaetano
Novel: Susan Wilson
Writer: Daniel Brocklehurst
Music: Jack Thorburn Matthias
Cast:
Terry Roberts: Warren Brown
Annie Roberts: Faye Marsay
Kate Thorne: Michelle Keegan
Michael: Alastair Bradman
Maria: Sarah Furnari
Arty Farthingdon: Berynn Schwerdt
Veronica Miller: Libby Fleming
Robbie: Nic English
Charlie: Michael McHugh
Ward Sister Mulligan: Tara Morice
Nick: Alex Andreas
Sandra: Penny Day
Gus Mckenzie: Rowan Davie
Foreman: Jake Ryan
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.