Ten Pound Poms

If I had to summarize my experience of watching 'Ten Pound Poms' so far I would have to say that Danny Brocklehurst was determined to work his story around xenophobia and racism, and chose the Labour Camp outside Sydney as his best way to integrate those themes, as it brought many races closer together. Unfortunately, it makes the story flat as every day we see Terry going off to do his bit in a hole in the ground, and in the evening he gets together with the other immigrants for a drink or party. It's a generalization of course, but many members of the Maltese side of my family went to Australia at this time and they ended up in the big cities. I think this makes the whole story seem untrue. There may have been one of two places that were like the camp, but they were probably the exception rather than the rule and this is where this story falls flat for me.

The production values, acting, scoring, cinematography are all world class. It's just that the story falls flat, it is too crowded, and the characters are not three dimensional enough. I will make an exception for the Terry character, and I think the Michelle Keegan character could have been worked better. The orphanage scene was embarrassing and unconvincing.

I think the subject material needed a more sensitive approach and probably should have come from someone with more first jhand experience of the process of emigration.

In the 60's most large establishments had switchboard operators , like Hotels and Hospitals . To make an overseas phone call you would call the international operator , give them the country and phone number and the operator would call back when call was connected . This series was set in 1956 . From the 40's and onwards everyone had Radios for music and entertainment as well as for the BBC news and Cricket . Throughout this series no one had a radio . Radios were as popular then as mobile phones are as popular today . Steven Curry was completely outstanding as J. J. plus all the main character child actors were really good .

The first episode starts very well then it takes a nose dive. The cinematography and acting is superb, it is let down by a very weak script. Other reviews call it 'soap opera' drama and I tend to agree.

The writers had an amazing opportunity here to write a period drama delving in to the issues of the time. Instead we get a bloated over dramatic 'modern show' with nothing new.

If this is renewed for a 2nd season. I hope they tighten up the story focus on fewer characters giving the audience a chance to become invested. And for god sake leave the modern drama tropes behind. There is reality tv for that.

This is a very uneven season (not sure if it's a series) because far too much is thrown into 6 episodes. This would have benefited from 8 episodes or less story. A bit like when someone says look in a mirror before you leave and take off one accessory. I feel like we didn't get to know the characters as well as we should have done the more promising or interesting ones were left with little story development or left high and dry mid way thru. There's good performances from the leads with what they have to work with but overall the show won't leave you wanting a second season. I can't comment on the historical accuracy but as this is a drama entertainment show I'll presume it's loosely based on history so I'll lean heavily on the entertainment side of things. It's passes the time but is easily missable.

I was a member of the family of £10 poms at around the same time as this drama is set and, although I was around 5, I have many vivid memories of that time as well as overhearing stories when my parents and their friends got together. Granted we only stayed on the hostel for around six months but I got the impression it was an exciting time for adults as well as kids. Maybe we were lucky being so close to the beach and the relatively big urban area of Wollongong. Our hostel was Balgownie, not to be confused with the fictitious 'Galgownie' which seemed to be simultaneously in the Outback and near the beach! Most hostels, in NSW at least, were near major urban centres and were nothing like depicted in the show. Jobs were plentiful and we were given a house in pretty short order. Most of the streets in the equivalent of UK council housing areas were 50/50 Aussie and mainly British immigrant families. There was never a hint of xenophobia from the Aussies and everyone just got on...probably down to the shared experience of WW2. Diggers and Tommies sharing war stories. Southern European immigrants probably weren't so lucky. Not exactly a premise for riveting drama, so can't really blame the makers for ratcheting up the tensions and concentrating them in a short time frame. Just don't watch it as a documentary!