Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Julian Rhind-Tutt, MyAnna Buring, Russell Tovey, David Wenham, Orla Brady, Ewen Bremner, Ryan Corr, David Dawson, Ned Dennehy, Brooke Harman, Joseph Millson, Nicholas Moss, Adam Nagaitis, Genevieve O’ Reilly, Joanna Vanderham, David Walmsley, Bianca Rudman, Jordan Patrick Smith, Tim McCunn.
It’s almost unthinkable now but the act of dealing with those who transgressed the law, and usually in the mealiest way possible, was to send them thousands upon thousands of miles away to a land that was possibly the ideal representation for both paradise lost and Hell on Earth all rolled into one conveniently package. To be offered this eternal damnation instead of the quick release of the noose was by far the worst option available and yet transportation to the new found colony of New South Wales was at least offering hope in the face of being Banished from the U.K.
The excellence of the historical drama Banished should really come as no surprise. Written and created by one of the most recognisable names in television drama and a man who pulls no punches when it comes to showing inequality, brutality and the horrors that humanity can stoop to. Jimmy McGovern is to many people’s minds one of the true representations of television playwrights available, his past productions speak for themselves and in Banished, that reputation holds sway and never buckles under and places the idea of servitude into an entirely new concept.
Having lost its prize asset of the American colonies to a hard won and inevitable freedom, Britain’s judiciary and Parliament took it out on the people, by sending, what they deemed to be the dregs of humanity, away, it was hoped that life in Britain would improve, the less of the criminal class, the less need for the reign of absolute law. By sending people such as Elizabeth Quinn away for the term of her natural life, the timid nature of Letters Malloy and the young fragile beauty of Kitty McVitie for transgressions that now quite rightly would require no more than a fine and understanding, Britain did itself, and its new colony, a huge disservice.
With tremendous input to the overall dramatic events that surrounded the first penal colony in Australia from the likes of the exceptional MyAnna Buring, Russell Tovey, Ewan Bremner, who once more showed that passion he showed with ferocity in Trainspotting, Joseph Milson, Julian Rhind-Tutt in arguably his finest television role to date and the gracious David Wenham in his role as the first Governor, Captain Sir Arthur Philip. This series is one in which the cast slotted together so well that it captured the reality of the harshness and deprivation, on both sides, to the point of exhaustion.
Whilst there is no green light for a second series as of yet, it would be a terrible shame for the B.B.C. not to make sure Jimmy McGovern gets the go-ahead. It may not be seen as political as Mr. McGovern is famous for writing, however the anger is there in the writing, the boiling resentment for people shunned by society, the jealousy of the political classed once more condemning those whose lives they deem meaningless to almost certain death. It is a story that needs a proper conclusion; after all it is still part of Britain’s shame that we treated these people in such a way.
Ian D. Hall