The first season of Ten Pound Poms followed the fortunes of a group of Brits who traveled Down Under in search of new lives as part of an assisted migration scheme during the 1950s. However, once they reached Australia they soon realised they'd been mis-sold their new adventure and life wasn't always easier in the sunshine.
Now, we are back in Australia for a second time as the series starring Michelle Keegan, Faye Marsay and Warren Brown returns.
Here is everything that happened in Ten Pound Poms season 2 episode 1...
The first episode of season 2 opens with Kate taking Michael, her biological son who she tracked down in season 1, on a boat to New Zealand. She steals another woman's identification papers to get on the ship, but soon the theft is reported and she gets cold feet. Convinced she will be found out, Kate persuades Michael that they should go and get ice cream instead, narrowly avoiding being caught by the police.
Terry and Annie are walking to breakfast with Pattie and Peter when JJ comes over with a letter from England. He jokes about the fact the snow has finally melted off the letter and asks after Kate. Annie says she hasn't heard from her friend and JJ comments this is the second time she has run away from her fiance, who has now left for Cairns. At the same time, we see Kate driving along the coast with Michael in a campervan, looking worried.
Pattie and her family are having breakfast when Mr Vanhouten comes over to complain that her baby, Mary, keeps crying in the night and keeping everyone at the hostel awake. Pattie tries to apologise, but Annie stands up for her daughter and reminds him what it is like to have a newborn. But Mr Vanhouten tells her that his wife was better at keeping their children quiet because she wasn't so young before then making a racist comment about the colour of Mary's skin. Terry squares up to the man and tells him to walk away, but as he leaves someone else eating their breakfast trips Mr Vanhouten up as he leaves.
The man who tripped up Mr Vanhouten comes to introduce himself as Ray Skinner, and his mum Maggie and sister Birdie. He explains that his dad and brother are on the boat behind because they had some 'business' to finish in Ireland. As they are talking, Mrs Walker comes over to tell Ray off for tripping up Mr Vanhouten and says standards at the hostel are going to be improving now she is in charge again.
Later the Roberts family goes to the Department of Housing to ask for a bigger home, because all five of them are still living in the one-bedroom hut. The man working there says he understands they want their own home and he puts them on a waiting list, but there is a 14-month wait. Fed up of waiting, Terry takes them to a house nearby that is for sale and he tells his family that they will be living somewhere like this soon. The epsiode then flashes forward into the future and sees them all sitting around a big table having dinner together in a beautifully furnished house.
Kate takes Michael to the beach where they play in the sea, then to a cafe for ice cream. While they eat Michael writes a postcard to his 'other mum' and it makes Kate realise that he is missing his adoptive mum, Fran. As she pays the bill she sees a woman reading a newspaper article about a boy who has been kidnapped and she realises she is in big trouble.
Terry goes looking for a new job as he hates the one he has, and they send him to fix dry rot on a housing estate. The conditions are awful and the job is huge, and when he gets home that night he tells Annie that the house he has been working in that day makes their hut look like a palace.
When he is back at work the next day, Benny Bates, the landlord of the housing estate comes knocking on the doors for rent. But one tenant refuses to pay because of the poor conditions and her husband beats up Benny's colleague. Terry, who is working on the dry rot, comes down and breaks up the fight, and Benny is grateful.
At work, Annie's boss, Marline, tells her they are closing the shop for the afternoon and going to the beach as a thank-you for all their hard work. Annie complains that she isn't dressed for the beach, so Marline hands her the keys to the shop and tells her to get a sundress from the stock and meet them there. As she leaves the shop, Annie hears someone calling her and it is Kate, who is hiding down an alleyway with Michael in the campervan, leaving Annie shocked.
Annie takes Kate and Michael into the shop and makes her excuses from the beach party. She asks Kate what she is thinking, but Kate is adamant that Michael is her son, she brought him into the world, and as a mum herself, Annie understands. Kate explains that she wanted to go to New Zealand and then escape to the UK - she wants to be the one putting him to bed and taking him to school, but he misses his other mum and it breaks her heart.
Terry chats with Benny outside the hospital after dropping his battered colleague off, and he is surprised to hear he is from the UK too but came over when he was young. Benny explains he made some 'lucky cash' and decided to buy up some cheap housing in Sydney and now he owns the whole street that Terry is working on.
Kate and Annie are talking in the shop when Marleine's ex-husband comes bashing on the door. They don't answer it, but it is clear that Marline closed the shop on purpose becasue she is avoiding him.
JJ goes to see Shelia in the hospital and he is shocked to see what sort of ward she is in - he has to beg to be let in to visit as her husband has banned visitors, despite the fact he is the one who drove her to attempted suicide in season 1. She is being brainwashed into thinking that her husband owns her, and JJ tells Shelia that he cares for her and wants to help, and they share a heartfelt moment.
Benny invites Terry to a wood-chopping event as a thank you for saving him from a beating and when Terry turns up Benny pays for his bets for the day and the man who Terry bets on wins. Benny offers Terry a job working with him and tells him he will pay twice whatever he is on at the moment. Terry can't believe his luck and accepts.
Back at the shop, Kate starts to panic about the enormity of what she has done and Annie tells her she doesn't have many options and that she is going to help. She calls Michael's adoptive mother, Fran Robinson, and explains everything to her, and says Kate wants to meet somewhere public and without Michael so they can talk - mother to mother.
JJ gets a visit from Shelia's husband Billy who threatens him for going to see her in the hospital. They fight and JJ tells Billy that he is the reason Shelia isn't at the bottom of the ocean right now, but Billy is deluded and tells him to back off. As he leaves, Billy finds Ray Skinner trying to take his taxi, and Ray uses the moment to try his luck at getting work and offers to be Billy's gardener.
Kate and Annie arrive to see Fran, and Kate is nervous. Annie stays with Michael as Kate talks with Fran, she explains that she didn't give Michael up in England, but that he was taken from her by Catholics and sent him thousands of miles away. She tells her that she loves that Fran and her husband bent the rules so they could adopt Michael and is grateful he isn't still in the orphanage. Fran says she wants to hate Kate and believe she is a bad person for Michael, but says bad mothers don't travel thousands of miles across the world to see their son.
Fran explains that she and her husband have lost children, one during pregnancy and one when he was just a year old, and Kate is shocked. Kate explains she wants to be part of Michael's life and to see him regularly, and asks Fran if she can be like an auntie to him, seeing him at the weekend, however, Fran is reluctant, saying her husband is a conservative man and wouldn't agree. Kate begs and eventually Fran agrees to speak to David. After Fran and Michael are reunited, she tells Kate that they go to the local playground before dinner and will be there the following day, and Kate is given hope that this new arrangement might just work.
The next day Annie is heading to work on the bus when she reads the letter from home and she is upset when she reads that a baker called Harry from her hometown is gravely ill. This spooks her and she races off the bus, clearly moved by the news as she has flashbacks to him at work.
Eventually arriving at work, Annie is worried when Marline doesn't come to work to open the shop, not realising she is hiding at home after getting a threatening letter from her ex, Donald, telling her that she can't avoid him forever. Annie tries calling Marline at home but she doesn't answer - and as the phone rings, Marline throws herself down the stairs in her house.
Terry starts his new job with Benny and he is stunned when Benny gives him a car and a roll of cash to go to the suit shop and pick up a suit for special occasions. Terry thinks all his Christmases have come at once as he drives his fancy new car along the coast in the sunshine, but it seems he might have unwittingly made a deal with the devil as we then see Benny's henchmen throwing the family who didn't pay their rent out on the street, and smashing up all their belongings up as they watch on helplessly.
Kate goes to the park to see Michael and Fran but she is confused when Fran doesn't greet her, and soon realises it is because the police are there to arrest her for Michael's abduction. She tries to explain that she has an agreement with Fran, but the police won't listen and she realises that she has been set up.
Ten Pound Poms season 2 airs on BBC One at 8pm on Sundays. All episodes are now available on BBC iPlayer as a box set.
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