Writer Danny Brocklehurst and stars Michelle Keegan, Faye Marsay and Warren Brown talk about bringing this little-known chapter of history to screen.

After two decades writing contemporary TV series, Danny Brocklehurst was keen to “embrace the challenge” of working on his first ever period drama.

“So I sort of dived into it,” the Bafta-winning screenwriter, 51, says of new BBC One drama, Ten Pound Poms – which is inspired by the real-life stories of Brits who emigrated to Australia after World War Two as part of the government’s subsidised Assisted Passage Migration Scheme.

The purpose of the scheme, which started in 1945, was to boost the Australian population and workforce after the war. Ads promised families the chance to “flourish” Down Under, where they’d find job opportunities and affordable housing aplenty – with just £10 (the equivalent of around £350 today) covering the cost of the six-week voyage over and migration processing fees, hence how the term ‘Ten Pound Poms’ came about.

More than a million Brits made the journey to embark on a new life in sunnier climes. But for many, reality didn’t match up to the dream, as they found themselves placed in basic migration hostels, job prospects not as readily available as hoped, and navigating the challenges of trying to fit in and start from scratch in a new country, thousands of miles from home.

“I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t really know that much about this period. It is one of those things that was sort of on the edge of my consciousness,” says Brocklehurst, whose previous credits include Brassic and Ordinary Lies.

When production company Eleven (the team behind the smash hit Netflix Sex Education) sent him a documentary about the real Ten Pound Poms, he got stuck in researching the history further, quickly realising there was rich “potential” for turning it into a drama.

The resulting six-part series centres largely on husband and wife Annie (Faye Marsay) and Terry (Warren Brown), who are hoping for a fresh start and chance to leave behind their struggles, and young nurse Kate (Michelle Keegan), who it eventually becomes clear is trying to “rewrite a devastating past”.

Like Brocklehurst, the actors were also fascinated to learn more about the stories that inspired the script.

“[It is] such a massive part of Australian and British history that I certainly didn’t know much about,” says 44-year-old Brown (The Responder, Luther). “But then once we were in Australia filming, so many people we were talking to, you would hear of connections – oh my parents were Ten Pound Poms, or I knew a Ten Pound Pom.”

He says the “scripts were brilliant” and the chance to explore something “different” with the character also appealed.

“We see very early on that Terry may have issues with alcohol,” the actor reflects. “As the series progresses, we learn some of the reasons that that’s there. Terry was a soldier, he’s seen some things and he’s very possibly suffering from what we would now identify as PTSD, but back then, maybe not so much. But it’s clear to see that his issues with alcohol are putting the family dynamics into some disarray.”

One of the threads that weaves through the plot, Brown adds, is how while we may be able to change location, “does that change your demons, or any of the troubles you have?”

Filming on location in Australia – including in Carcoar, often dubbed the ‘town that time forgot’ as so much of its historical aesthetic has been persevered – helped bring the stories to life, the actors agree.

But Keegan notes that their experience of being thousands of miles from home was incredibly different to that of the real Ten Pound Poms: “Luckily for us, we’ve got FaceTime. If we’re feeling homesick, we just pick up the phone and we can speak to loved ones back in the UK and we have the luxury of being able to see [them].”

Something else that put things into “perspective”, says Brown, was being able to fly over – unlike spending six weeks on a ship as the post-war migrants did.

For Marsay (Game Of Thrones, Black Mirror), her own family history fed into her interest in the themes explored in the series, and she channelled memories of her great-grandmother while bringing the character of Annie to life.

“[She] was a woman in World War Two, and her husband, my granddad, was taken as a prisoner of war from Dunkirk for four years in an Italian POW camp. So I have a lot of family knowledge to draw from, and lots of images of my grandma being strong,” explains Marsay, 36. “When I read Annie, that’s what came to mind.”

Having Brocklehurst’s name on the script was also a big draw.

“When you get an audition and it’s got Danny’s name as the writer, you kind of pay attention to that,” says Marsay. “And when you read Danny’s words, the way he writes human beings, the way he writes problems and people who are trying to overcome their problems, that has always been an interest for me as an actor, looking at Danny’s work.”

For Keegan, 35, this marked her third time working with the writer (she also starred in Brassic and Ordinary Lies). “I spoke to Danny a few years before I saw the script and I remember being really, really excited about the thought of doing a period drama that was based on history that I had no idea about.

“So for me, it was a learning thing,” the former Coronation Street star adds of signing up to play Kate. “I’m obsessed with history as well, so I just wanted to learn more about the migration scheme.”

Did Brocklehurst have Keegan in mind when creating the role?

“I don’t tend to write any scripts with a particular actor in mind, as I’m writing the very first draft, I’m thinking about the character. But as it goes on, you obviously start to think, well who would be brilliant for certain parts? And very quickly, I thought Michelle would be fantastic for Kate,” Brocklehurst explains, adding that they “know each other pretty well now” and “enjoy working together”.

He continues: “And then with Warren and Faye, it’s about finding the absolute perfect person really for what you’ve created, and then bringing that person to life. Lifting what I’ve written and turning them into fully rounded, credible people.

“I think cast is terrific, I’m very pleased with everybody we’ve got.”

Ten Pound Poms will premiere on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday May 14, airing weekly on BBC One, with all episodes available on iPlayer immediately.