Banished

Why does the BBC waste licence payers' money on pathetic dramas that have no promise? I gave Episode 1 of Banished a try two weeks ago and gave up on it. Badly directed, badly lit and with a script Jimmy McGovern should be ashamed of, this penal-colony saga in 1788 Australia failed to win my suspension of disbelief. Shown are Russell Tovey as James Freeman, MyAnna Buring as Elizabeth Quinn and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Tommy Barrett. Elizabeth is that old cliché the whore with the heart of gold. She'll drop her knickers - if she wears any - to get her way. She's madly in love with Tommy Barrett and he and James Freeman are in love with her. Tommy is so entranced he's prepared to go to the gallows rather than give her up. That's when it became farcical (CLICK).