Banished (TV series)


Banished is a British drama television serial created by Jimmy McGovern. The seven-part serial first aired on 5 March 2015 on BBC Two and was inspired by events in the eighteenth century when Britain established a penal colony in Australia.
It has been announced that Banished will not be returning for a second series.

Plot

Set in the first penal colony founded by the British in New South Wales in the year 1788, in which the British convicts live alongside their Royal Navy marine guards and their officers. A thousand prisoners are guarded by one hundred men, and with five men for every woman, tensions are high when the women are frequently raped by the men.

Production

The series, a co-production between RSJ Films and See-Saw Films, was co-commissioned by BBC Two and BBC Worldwide. The commissioners for BBC Two are Ben Stephenson and Janice Hadlow. Filming took place in Sydney in April 2014 and Manchester afterwards. The series premiered on 25 June 2015, on BBC First in Australia and BBC UKTV in New Zealand.

Cast

Reception

The drama series premiered on 5 March 2015 and gained 3.4 million viewers, giving BBC2 a rare ratings victory over both BBC1 and ITV. It was BBC2’s second biggest new drama launch for several years, behind Wolf Hall, which began in January with an overnight audience of 3.9 million.
The Guardian newspaper has named the series "I'm a Convict, Get me Out of Here!" with reference to the reality TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. The Telegraph gave the TV series two stars out of five because of its "grim" nature and comparing it to the TV series Lost.
Some noted that there are no Indigenous Australian characters, omitting their perspective on the advent of the colony.