A new trailer and images have been dropped for the BBC’s Ten Pound Poms, starring Michelle Keegan.
The Stockport-born actress has been filming Down Under for the drama, which will return for a second series on Sunday 9 March.
Ten Pound Poms comes from the same BAFTA-award winning writer as Fool Me Once and Brassic, Danny Brocklehurst, and follows a group of Brits leaving post-war Britain to embark on a life-changing adventure on the other side of the world.
As we head into season two of the BBC drama, it’s now 1957 and our stars are trying to make their Australian dream a reality.
The cast includes Michelle Keegan as nurse Kate Thorne, who’s trying to forge a future for herself; Faye Marsay and Warren Brown as Annie and Terry Roberts.
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A new trailer and first-look images for the return of the BBC series have been released this week ahead of its return to our screens next week.
Ten Pound Poms is back on BBC for season two. Credit: BBC/Eleven Film/Lisa Tomasetti
In the trailer, we see Robbie (Nic English) share a tender moment with Kate as they rekindle their friendship, as well as meeting a new character for the first time.
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All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am, with weekly BBC One transmission from 8pm on Sunday 9 March.
It’s made by Eleven (Sex Education, Red Rose) for BBC iPlayer and BBC One in a co-production with Stan, which airs the series in Australia.
One of the 2025 Oscar winners was a favourite at a recent film festival in Manchester
Danny Jones
It’s not often we get to say that Greater Manchester can lay any sort of claim to Oscars fame, but once in a while it happens and in this case, we’re only a few degrees of separation away from the latest Academy Award-winning film thanks to a recent film festival.
Being most recently hosted in Manchester once again, the 2024 edition of the UK Jewish Film Festival saw a number of shorts, student films and indie projects associated with the religion spotlighted – one of which just won not one but two bits of bronze.
Picking up not only the award for this year’s award for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ for the film itself but with Succession favourite and Home Alone child star, Kieran Culkin’s role winning him ‘Best Supporting Actor’, the much-celebrated A Real Pain has now won an Oscar.
But the part of all this that we’re especially happy about is that one of the first times it was seen in the UK happened right here in Manchester city centre late last year.
This year’s ‘Best Original Screenplay’ award winner at the Oscars, just a few months after screening in Manchester. Have you seen it yet?
The now Oscar-winning picture, which just so happens to be the second original feature film from Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network, Zombieland, Justice League), has been delighting audiences ever since its debut at Sundance in January 2024 and went on to premiere at several international film festivals.
However, the second time it was screened here in Britain prior to its official UK release nearly a full 12 months later (8 Jan 2025) at the UK Jewish Film Festival, was in 0161, returning for another consecutive year across multiple Greater Manchester venues.
Without giving away too much about the plot itself, the synopsis of the film reads as follows: “Mismatched cousins reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother, but their old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.”
Shown to us Mancs for the first time at Cineworld Didsbury on Thursday, 17 November last year, you won’t be surprised to hear it was one of the most popular picks of this festival too.
UK Jewish Film Festival is coming to Manchester! 🤩
Check out some of the amazing films that we'll be screening in Manchester.
1. A Real Pain 🚆 2. The Performance 🕺 3. British-Jewish Life On Film: Manchester ✡️ 4. Golda's War Diaries 🇮🇱
A Real Pain has been largely described as a buddy comedy and a road trip movie by lots of critics but there’s also tonnes of drama and serious subject matter that it gets stuck into.
Touching not only the obvious themes of Judaism and Zionism but also family, the Holocaust specifically and theology in general, the film has gone down as a deeply important piece of cinema for a whole community and plenty of people beyond it.
Admittedly, the Greater Manchester connection to the film might only be a slight one but given its new Oscars fame and how well-reviewed the film has been ever since we saw it at the UK Jewish Film (UJFF) Festival, we’re absolutely jumping on the bandwagon and we’re glad to keep supporting events like this.
Make sure you check out the UJFF the next time it comes to our neck of the woods. Applications to enter a film into the 2025 festival are now open.
Side note: it also led to arguably one of the best acceptance speeches in years:
Kieran Culkin’s acceptance speech for his first-ever #Oscar
“[My wife] said we can have 4 children when I win an Oscar… let’s get cracking with these kids!”
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – a masterclass in comedy, colour and movement
Danny Jones
To start with, we’re going to begin this review by advocating for going into stage shows with as little knowledge as possible because it only dials up the already exaggerated nature even further – we knew next to nothing about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat before seeing it in Manchester.
And we truly think it helped.
Now, when we say nothing, we’ve obviously heard the title plenty of times over the years as it remains one of the most celebrated musical productions on the planet, and you don’t need to be an avid theatre buff to know who Andrew Lloyd Webber is. The point being is that all we knew was its reputation.
Going along with a second party several decades older than us who shared the same blindspot and just never quite understood what all the fuss was about makes the next part even funnier: we both loved it.
Colour, colour and more colour.Some impressive yet superbly simple production value.Our review of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Opera House in Manchester. (Credit: Press Tristram Kenton)
We’re not going to dive too heavily into the story as we’re sure plenty of you who are more well-versed in the genre don’t need a synopsis regurgitating for the umpteenth time, but what we will say is that we’re somewhat glad we weren’t aware of its religious themes and numerous biblical references.
Not because we have any particular issue with Christianity nor adapting stories within theologies to turn them into entertainment, but because as atheists we probably would have been less keen to choose this particular text over another.
However, this is why we’re thankful for going in blind as we fear many others have missed out on this long-standing vibrant, energetic, all-singing, all-dancing twist on the tale of Genesis for decades simply due to being non-believers/agnostic.
That being said, we can confidently assure you that not only can you put your thoughts on faith to one side for the duration of the performance but, for us at least, it felt like it was more of an undercurrent than anything else and had little bearing on what a truly joyful evening for all ages.
You also get hand-held through it through the eyes of the children being retold the story right in front of you by the expert narrator, Christina Bianco, whose interventions and comic timing were lethal on a crowd already easily cracked up by a punchline or two – but she had the best of the lot.
Where else to begin than with Joseph himself, played by Adam Filipe, who although we’ll admit to being layman on the subject until last night, feels almost born to play the role.
Not only did he bring respite to an otherwise frenetic (in the best way possible) onslaught of singing with his ability to deliver certain lines as nothing more than perfectly enunciated and emotional speech, but his voice was on point throughout and the way he made full use of the stage from the start was great.
One particularly immature slide up the curved wall of the set in the opening five minutes and we knew all we needed to know about not just movement but the rest of the cast too; pretty much non-stop movement and expression virtually at all times.
The dancing – particularly a rather hilarious ‘can-can’ confusion – was top-notch throughout and no matter which bright, flowing costume he or the ensemble was wearing during a specific number, they all looked the part and didn’t put a foot out of place.
Even a more serious interlude was welcome.We’d have loved more yellow-forward moment and backdrops in the palette but that’s just us being picky…Credit: Press Images
But much to our delight, there really wasn’t one standout performance that stood head and shoulders above the rest, simply because they were all brilliant.
Whether it was the Jacobs and Sons company of brothers bringing both melodrama and some comic relief, or the score of female dancers delivering an elegance and added level of pageantry to proceedings, they all played their part.
However, every time one or more of the kids took to the stage a show-stealing moment was ripe for the picking and they all seized their opportunity, be it in unison or in the select few solo moments in the spotlight. An audience is always going to get up for youngsters shining front and centre.
But, we suppose if we absolutely had to give another special mention to another member of the production and single them out, there’s only one person it could be…
Having previously played the lead role back in 2016 following his X-Factor success, Joe McElderry returns to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the Manc crowd in the role of the Pharoah and boy was he good having passed the baton and shifted gears. So good and so funny.
As well as an expert command of light, colour and choreography, the one thing we were surprised by was just how well-placed the comedy was throughout.
Not too much, not too little and nothing too contrived – a hard balance to strike and one that helps ease in those rare typically theatre-goers prone to a touch of cringe.
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All in all, we sincerely urge you to go and see this show for yourselves, especially if you’re like us and have never given it a chance before. You won’t regret it.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is on in Manchester until Sunday, 9 March. You can still grab tickets HERE.
In case you were wondering who stole the show in @JosephMusical at the @PalaceAndOpera, they all did… but we'll admit the Pharoah is a bit of a legend. 😅👏
Daisy Jackson -
1st March 2025 
