BBC Worldwide commissions first series for new channel with ‘epic and ambitious’ series Banished

BBC Worldwide Australia and New Zealand has commissioned a seven part television drama series about British convicts sent to Australia in the 18th century following its success with the critically acclaimed Top of the Lake.

The series called Banished is the first commission for the new BBC First channel, which the broadcaster is launching on Foxtel later this year after canning its 50-year deal with the ABC last April, in 2015.

Created by acclaimed screen-writer and creator of the ABC series Redfern Now, Jimmy McGovern, Banished, is co-produced by See-Saw films, producers of Top of the Lake and The King’s Speech, and RSJ Films, joining forces for the first time.

The series described as fast-paced, “epic and ambitious” by the BBC will open in 1788 New South Wales and focus on the lives, loves and relationships of the exiled convicts and the marines who guarded them in the early days of settlement.