60 minSeason 1 • Episode 7
LatestJames Freeman faces the most difficult decision of his life.
Banished is a British period drama television serial created by Jimmy McGovern. The seven-part serial first aired on BBC Two from 5 March to 16 April 2015. It received mixed reviews, with most of the criticism for its perceived inaccuracies to the depicted events. Though set in the stark historical reality of the founding of the penal colony in Australia in 1788 after the arrival of the First Fleet, it is not the story of Australia and how it came to be. Rather, it is a tale of love, faith, justice and morality played out on an epic scale in a confined community where the stakes are literally life and death.
Writing
McGovern's dialogue cuts like a convict's stolen blade
Production
Muddy authenticity that reeks of despair and salt
Acting
MyAnna Buring carries the weight of an empire's sins
Creator
Jimmy McGovern
Orla Brady
Anne Meredith
Ewen Bremner
Reverend Johnson
MyAnna Buring
Elizabeth Quinn
Ryan Corr
Corporal MacDonald
David Dawson
Captain Collins
Ned Dennehy
Letters Molloy
Brooke Harman
Housekeeper Deborah
Cal MacAninch
Sgt Timmins
Joseph Millson
Major Ross
Nicholas Moss
Spragg
Adam Nagaitis
Private Buckley
Genevieve O'Reilly
Mrs. Mary Johnson
Russell Tovey
James Freeman
Julian Rhind-Tutt
Tommy Barrett
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The series was filmed in Sydney despite being set there—the rare case where authenticity was geographically convenient.
Historians dragged it for inaccuracies, but McGovern never claimed documentary—he wanted the emotional truth of empire's human cost.
GB
