British actress Michelle Keegan travels to Australia to star in big-budget BBC and Stan co-production Ten Pound Poms
Streaming giant Stan has announced that the British actress Michelle Kegan will lead a top-notch cast for his blockbuster Stan Original Series’Ten pound pom poms‘.
Our Girl star, 35, will play a big-budget British immigrant BBC co-production, which is shot in New South Wales.
The six-part series features the famous Assisted Migration Scheme, which brought over a million people to Australia after World War II.
Streaming giant Stan has announced that Michelle Keegan (pictured) will lead a top cast for its Stan Original series ‘Ten Pound Poms’, a co-production with the BBC
Game of Thrones actor Faye Marsey and Warren Brown of BBC detective series Luther play a married couple who came to Australia in 1956 after paying just £10 for their passage.
The Australian government promises the family a better home, better job prospects and a better quality of life Down Under, away from dreary post-war England.
But the couple soon discover the grim reality of migrant life as they fight poor living conditions in a home for ‘new Australians’; and prejudice.
Also in the hostel is Kate (Keegan), a young nurse desperate to rewrite her devastating past after arriving in Australia without her fiancé.
Warren Brown (pictured), from the BBC detective series Luther, portrays a young husband who comes to Australia in 1956 after paying just £10 for passage
Meanwhile, Australian actor Leon Ford will play a newcomer struggling to survive Down Under after losing his business in England.
Declan Coyle from the SBS series The Family Law also stars as a teenager trying to escape a dysfunctional family relationship.
Mystery Road’s Rob Collins also appears in the drama as an Indigenous war veteran who feels like an outsider in his own country.
Game of Thrones actor Faye Marsey also stars in the British-Australian TV series
Other cast members include Stephen Curry of The Castle, rising star Hattie Hook and Emma Hamilton of The Tudors.
The limited series was created by BAFTA winner Danny Brocklehurst (Ordinary Lies) who says the show will ask questions about “success and failure, identity, parenthood and belonging”.
The Australian government launched the so-called “ten pound pom” program to bolster the country’s population, which was only 7.4 million in 1947.
When APMS ended in 1982, Australia had a population of 15 million.
The Assisted Passage Migration Scheme brought over a million people to Australia after World War II. (Pictured: The SS Orion which brought hundreds of ‘New Australians’ Down Under)
Meanwhile, 25% of Britons who joined the scheme have returned home.
Danny Brocklehurst describes the series as a “bold character piece”.
“Ten Pounds Poms talk about what it means to start over, to be a stranger in a new country,” he said.
Keegan (pictured with husband Mark Wright) will play a young nurse desperate to rewrite her devastating past after arriving in Australia without her fiancé
The production team is led by Joel Wilson, executive producer of British company Eleven, the creators of Sex Education.
“It’s a huge privilege to work with Danny,” he said.
“We are both deeply passionate about the stories of the hundreds of thousands of people who have participated in the assisted migration program.”
Australian writer Ryan Griffen, to whom we owe Cleverman in particular, will participate in the writing of the series, alongside Smita Bhide (The Indian Detective) and Ava Pickett (Brassic).
Jamie Stone (Doctor Who) and Australian Ana Kokkinos (Fires) will direct.
Ten Pound Poms will come to Stan.
Advertising
#British #actress #Michelle #Keegan #stars #BBC #Stan #Original #Series #coproduction #Ten #Pound #Poms