''Banished'' is a British drama television serial created by

Jimmy McGovern James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series '' Cracker'' (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He als ...

. The seven-part serial first aired on 5 March 2015 on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

and was inspired by events in the eighteenth century when Britain established a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

in Australia. ''Banished'' was not renewed for a second series.

Plot

Set in the first penal colony founded by the British in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the year 1788, in which the British convicts live alongside their

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

marine guards and their officers. A thousand prisoners are guarded by one hundred men, and with five men for every woman, tensions are high from widespread polyamory and rape. Several characters from the real

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

are portrayed, though not necessarily accurately.

Production

The series, a co-production between RSJ Films and

See-Saw Films See-Saw Films is a British-Australian film and television production company founded in 2008 by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, with offices in London and Sydney. Their productions include ''The King's Speech'', ''Top Of The Lake'', ''Lion'', ...

, was co-commissioned by

and

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

. The commissioners for BBC Two are

Ben Stephenson Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot in the United States. Education Stephenson attended The Hewett School in ...

and Janice Hadlow. Filming took place in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in April 2014 and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

afterwards. The series premiered on 25 June 2015, on

BBC First BBC First is an entertainment subscription television channel featuring comedy, crime, drama and film programming, originating from UK and mostly from the BBC. The channel is wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios. The channel began rolling ...

in Australia and BBC UKTV in New Zealand.

Cast

In alphabetical order: *

Orla Brady Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961) is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. Brady has since appeared in many feature films and major television series, and was named in the 2020 list of Ireland's best film actors, publi ...

as Anne Meredith *

Ewen Bremner Ewen Bremner (born 23 January 1972) is a Scottish actor. His roles have included Shawn Nelson in '' Black Hawk Down'', Julien in '' Julien Donkey-Boy'' and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in '' Trainspotting'' and its 2017 sequel '' T2 Trainspotting''. E ...

as Reverend Johnson *

MyAnna Buring My Anna Margaretha Buring Rantapää (born 22 September 1979), known professionally as MyAnna Buring (), is a Swedish-born British actress. Her films include ''The Descent'' (2005), ''Kill List'' (2011), and ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn � ...

as Elizabeth Quinn *

Ryan Corr Ryan Corr is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles in the Australian drama series ''Packed to the Rafters'', '' Love Child'' and '' Underbelly'', along with film roles in '' Wolf Creek 2'' (2013), '' The Water Diviner'' (2014), '' Holdi ...

as Corporal MacDonald * David Dawson as Captain David Collins * Ned Dennehy as Letters Molloy * Brooke Harman as Deborah, Governor Phillip's housekeeper * Cal MacAninch as Sergeant Timmins * Rory McCann as Marston, the blacksmith * Joseph Millson as Major Robert Ross *Nick Moss as Spragg * Adam Nagaitis as Private Buckley *

Genevieve O'Reilly Genevieve O'Reilly (born 6 January 1977) is an Irish-born Australian actress. She is best known for portraying Mon Mothma in the '' Star Wars'' franchise beginning with ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005), a role which earned her a Saturn Award nom ...

as Reverend Johnson's wife * Jordan Patrick Smith as Private Mulroney *

Russell Tovey Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981) is a British actor. He is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural comedy-drama '' Being Human'', Rudge in both the stage and film versions of '' The History ...

as James Freeman *

Julian Rhind-Tutt Julian Alistair Rhind-Tutt (born 20 July 1967) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Dr "Mac" Macartney in the comedy television series '' Green Wing''. Early life Rhind-Tutt was born on 20 July 1967 in West Drayton, London, the youn ...

as Tommy Barrett * Joanna Vanderham as Katherine 'Kitty' McVitie *David Walmsley as William Stubbins *

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in ' ...

as Captain Arthur Phillip, 1st Governor of New South Wales

Episodes (2015)

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 ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a sym ...

'', which began in January with an overnight audience of 3.9 million. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper 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 ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' gave the TV series two stars out of five because of its misrepresentation of the British military with "stereotypical tropes", its lack or historical accuracy and its "grim" nature, comparing it to the TV series '' Lost''. McGovern, responding to criticisms over the lack of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

on the series, said that "The time-frame in ''Banished'' is very short – something just over two weeks – and there is not sufficient time to develop and do justice to indigenous characters" (This however is not in line with the storyline that has numerous references to the many weeks past).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banished (Tv Series) 2010s British drama television series Australian adventure television series British adventure television series 2015 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings APRA Award winners BBC television dramas CBC Television original programming British English-language television shows Television shows set in colonial Australia Television shows set in New South Wales Fiction set in 1788 Television series set in the 1780s 2010s Australian television miniseries 2010s British television miniseries 2015 Australian television series debuts 2015 Australian television series endings Television shows filmed in Australia Television shows shot in Manchester