There’s no fun in the sun of this solidly enjoyable drama
Some actors have period drama faces – they were made for a Georgian rectory or a Victorian workhouse. Michelle Keegan is not one of them. She has the glossy hair and perfect complexion of the Love Island generation, and one of those faces in which only the bottom half moves. This makes her a strange choice for Ten Pound Poms (BBC One), playing Kate, a young nurse who leaves grim 1950s Britain for a new life in sunny Australia.
But Keegan can act, and Kate’s storyline turns out to be an affecting one – she has a secret reason for joining the Ten Pound Pom scheme, under which the Australian government encouraged British workers to emigrate Down Under. We also follow the Roberts family – father Terry (Warren Brown), mother Annie (Faye Marsay) and their kids – who have left grimy Stockport for a fresh start in the hope of curing Terry’s drink problem and PTSD. They have been sold a dream of a detached house with a big garden, a stone’s throw from the ocean, so it’s a rude awakening when they’re bussed to a collection of Nissen huts.
The rudimentary accommodation isn’t the only problem. Terry is not warmly welcomed on the building site where he’s sent to work. “You got blacks in Britain, don’t you? Well, over here, you’re the black,” snarls one of his new colleagues (a monstrous David Field). Racism looms large here, mostly directed at the Aboriginal Australians who are considered by some to be little more than vermin.
Across six episodes, writer Danny Brocklehurst (Clocking Off, Brassic) weaves his plots and characters with confidence. Terry gets caught up in a crime, which poses a terrible moral dilemma. Annie embraces the opportunities that Australia brings, namely a job and independence.
It’s a solidly enjoyable Sunday night drama, albeit one that feels slightly lacking. It doesn’t have the emotional pull of something like Call the Midwife, and it can feel underwritten in places. Annie complains to the manager of a department store about the treatment of an indigenous customer, but drops her objection immediately when the manager offers her a job – not because Annie is being pragmatic, but because the script needs to move along.
Still, it’s an interesting period of history. Plus, it’s a new drama that isn’t a hysterical thriller about a woman who discovers that her perfect life has been a lie, or a police procedural based on a real-life murder case. And for that we should be grateful.
Ateacher greets a class of teenage girls. “F--- off,” says one. “Slag,” mutters another. Before any Ofsted inspectors start reaching for their notebooks, rest assured that these are not badly behaved kids. They have Tourette’s – specifically, the type called coprolalia, which involves involuntary swearing and obscene gestures. Only one in 10 people with Tourette’s has this form of the condition, contrary to popular belief.
The subject of The Teacher with Tourette’s was sufferer Natalie Davidson, who campaigns to raise awareness of this disability and has also made a previous documentary about it for Channel 5. She met those teenage girls to give them a talk about resilience because, understandably, they were worried about the prospect of one day finding jobs.
The documentary did a good job of showing what it is like to have Tourette’s. When Davidson moved to a new house, she wrote a letter to the neighbours detailing her condition, so that they didn’t call the police to report her for swearing at them. She is an engaging character with a gift for explaining things with clarity. At one point she trialled a wrist device being developed by scientists, which reduces the occurrence of tics at the touch of a button. It was a revelation. “That is a life-changing prospect,” she said.
The most interesting part was a discussion between Natalie and Lauren, a 20-year-old who has become a Tiktok star by swearily reading from children’s books. Natalie became upset at the idea that Lauren was performing for the amusement of others, when Tourette’s is no laughing matter for sufferers. Apparently, Tourette’s is quite a thing on Tiktok, but are people laughing with them or at them?
The programme succeeded on human interest grounds but was sorely lacking when it came to the science. Who gets Tourette’s and why? Is it genetic? Lauren said she had minor twitches from the age of 12 but developed coprolalia at 17 following a seizure brought on by donating blood. It was a failure of the documentary not to provide basic information or any input by medical professionals.
Ten Pound Poms ★★★★
The Teacher with Tourette’s ★★★