Recent TV dramas
I was delighted that Ten Pound Poms – about the British emigration to Australia in the 1950s – is now in its second series.
I can claim a connection as my parents knew an eccentric travel agent (S.G.) whose main business was the repatriation of such emigrants.
Well do I remember visits to a liner in the 1960s conveying the emigrants and the sad faces on board. That feeling of unfulfilled aspiration lies at the heart of this series as the welcome was far from welcoming.
It centres on one family, the Roberts: a forceful mother called Annie and her amiable husband Terry who is duped by a Rachman-type landlord.
The Roberts have three children, one with a baby.
Michelle Keegan, a soap star, plays Kate who stole her son from his foster parents. They turn her over to the police. I enjoy the drama, which has a graphic location, but of course in the 1950s no mobile phones. Australia had a ‘white Australia’ policy so there is no diversity either.
A family unit of 5 feature strongly in The White Lotus.
Tim Ratcliffe (Jason Isaacs) is a financier pursued by the Feds and his wife is stricken when daughter Piper reveals she would like to joins a local Buddhist monastery. Tim – unlike his wife – is not so dismissive of their values. Meanwhile his son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and his kid brother Lockie want to make out with Chloe, the girlfriend of Greg who appeared in the first episode set in Hawaii. He is alleged to have committed the murder of a rich guest who was prepared to back Beverly in opening a spa and she is terrified.
All the while another Rick has plans to confront the husband of the hotel’s owner.
The three sassy Americans who were at college together are on their last fling and – when one makes out with a Russian – the troika descend to argument. It’s multi-stranded with crisp dialogue and is highly watchable.
I could not apply this adjective to Towards Zero, a sexed-up makeover of the Agatha Christie novel.
The murder was too long delayed so the pace was too slow and the acting wooden.
