As the fourth episode of Ten Pound Poms begins, Annie Roberts (Faye Marsay) goes to the school with her daughter Pattie (Hattie Hook) because Mrs. Carey wants to see them. Mrs. Carey reveals that she applied for a highly prestigious study camp on Pattie’s behalf. They’re surprised to learn that Pattie got into the camp. Mrs. Carey reveals that Pattie is already their star pupil. As they leave, Annie tells Pattie that they have money for the camp. Now that they’re in Australia, they can do anything. At work, Billy (Jake Ryan) tells everyone that they’re down a man because Dean Spender is in the hospital.

Ron Mahoney (Rob Collins) and Terry Roberts (Warren Brown) volunteer for overtime only for Billy to give it to two others. Annie takes Pattie to the store where Marlene Chase (Cheree Cassidy) helps her choose a dress. While Pattie tries on the dress, Marlene and Annie talk about the opportunities she’ll get in Australia. Pattie rubs her belly as if she is pregnant. Pattie tells them it isn’t her style, but she’ll take some books if Annie wants to buy her something. Sheila Anderson (Emma Hamilton) and Bill Anderson (Leon Ford) talk about their kids who are busy causing problems. Bill insults his wife before leaving. Sheila apologizes to Kate Thorne (Michelle Keegan) for the kids being loud.

Kate talks to her about England and her mother being ill. At home, Terry is thrilled to hear about Pattie’s camp. Annie hasn’t seen him this perky in weeks. Terry wants to have some fun now that they have the place to themselves. Once he stops, Annie tells him it is okay because the job won’t always be this hard. At work, Kate is approached by the new ward sister who tells her she was late. Pattie sees Ivan Cartwright (Travis McMahon) arguing with his son Stevie (Declan Coyle). She approaches Stevie to ask what to do when the windows in the huts don’t open. Stevie tells her to speak to JJ. After talking about school, Stevie says everything is working out well for Pattie there.

Stevie says it isn’t true what they’re saying about him because he didn’t kill anyone. They agree they came there to make a new start. Auntie May (Trisha Morton-Thomas) asks Ron if he has seen to those white fellows. He confirms one of them is already in the hospital. Pattie speaks to Kate. Pattie says she has a friend at school whose monthlies have stopped. She wants to know where she can go to get them started again. Kate warns her that is illegal and people can go to prison for helping. Instead, she thinks the girl should speak to her mother. At work, Ron approaches Terry to offer him extra work. Terry eventually agrees to help if they do it first thing. Kate sits next to Annie and talks to her while Pattie watches from a distance.

Annie tells her not to give up because she’ll find him. She thinks Kate deserves everything this place has to offer. A girl approaches Pattie to say she knows where her friend can get some help. JJ Walker (Stephen Curry) tells Mrs. Walker (Tina Bursill) that the Italians are complaining about termites again. When he admits they didn’t handle it properly, Mrs. Walker hopes she didn’t make a mistake putting him in charge. She throws away the complaints and says they know where to go if they don’t like it. Some guests sing together outside. When Sheila begins singing, Mrs. Walker says she has a lovely voice. Once she finishes singing, she goes inside and listens to a record.

Ivan throws money at Bill and tells him he is a man of his word. He warns him that he knows about him. Once Bill goes into his hut, Sheila says JJ told her he had been talking to Ivan about money. Bill tells her she doesn’t kowtow to anyone since she is his wife. She pleads with him to be careful with her records. Bill breaks the record. In the morning, Terry tells Annie he thinks it is going to be a good day. He wouldn’t miss Marlene’s barbeque for anything in the world. Terry tells her how he’ll finish the job with Ron and change his clothes before coming. Ron takes Terry to the middle of nowhere and nearly pushes him off a cliff. He knows Terry was in the car with Dean. Terry doesn’t deny it although he says he tried to report it to police.

Terry tells him that Dean was driving and made him go. It has been killing him. Since Ron said the boy died, Terry hasn’t been able to sleep or think. Terry says the boy shouldn’t have died and he should’ve died instead. After letting Terry go, Ron admits that the boy didn’t die although he was hurt bad. Ron claims the government takes their kids so they had to lie about him dying. Although Terry tells him to push him over, Ron says that would be too easy. He wants Terry to stay away from him from now on. Annie gets ready for the party and brags about Pattie being so brilliant. Pattie complains that she’ll be stuck doing her homework while her mom is out having a good time. Later, she tells Peter that she is leaving even though she was supposed to keep an eye on him.

Terry comes home to get changed. Ron tells auntie that it is done. Terry catches up with his wife at the party. Before long, Terry hangs out with three women who give him Lychees. When he spits it out, they give him a drink instead. Pattie gets into a vehicle with a man. She is told to pull the blanket over her and stay down. Annie speaks to Nick (Alex Andreas) about where he was born and other things. Nick says he sees a woman who knows what she wants when he looks at her. Once Pattie reaches her destination, her stomach begins hurting. The man believes she is too far along. She begins panicking and saying she doesn’t know what to do. The man thinks she should do this properly. Terry gets into an argument with two men about the barbeque. He ends up getting pushed into the pool and causing a scene.

Annie gets upset with him and says he has had enough to drink. She follows him out and complains about him doing that in front of her boss and friends. Terry tells her how Ron nearly pushed him off a cliff today. He finally tells her the truth about the boy Dean hit and how he isn’t dead. Terry accuses Annie of only caring about herself. Annie says she could’ve left him years ago. She doesn’t know how she is going to trust him again. Annie tells him to get out of her sight. Once he leaves, Annie goes back inside where Nick checks on her. They agree to tour the house. She says she is drunk and should go home so Nick offers to get her a taxi. Terry finds the kids still up when he gets back.

Kate puts the teddy bear in a suitcase and hides it under the bed. Once Annie gets home, Pattie admits she can’t go to the study camp because she is having a baby. They want to know who did it. Pattie claims it was Sam Williams. Annie says it was the colored lad. Annie gets mad and accuses Pattie of ruining everything she has been working for. When Pattie says she told Kate, Annie slaps her. She goes outside to collect herself before coming back to apologize to her daughter. Annie claims she’ll take care of everything. While at work, Kate sees a boy that reminds her of her son. She begins crying and follows them out. The Sister threatens to suspend her unless she gets back to her post, but Kate continues outside.

She chases their car as they leave.

 

Ten Pound Poms Review

Through four episodes, Ten Pound Poms has thrown every possible story angle at the wall hoping something would stick. For brief moments, the show feels like it’ll turn a corner and become something more, but it really hasn’t managed to catch fire. For instance, the scenes with Sheila Anderson and the vinyl records were a good touch. There are too many concurrent storylines, the cast is too large, and the writing isn’t strong enough to neatly tie everything together to make it work.

The majority of the characters, especially from the main cast, are either shallow or seriously unlikeable. Everything about the show seems overly exaggerated to the point that it is difficult to take anything seriously. It is really like the writers had a list of points they had to prove throughout the series and they’ve been checking them off one by one. Again, this could’ve and should’ve been much better.

The writing is just too stretched thin to squeeze everything into the six-part series so there is really no substance, charm, or emotion. This episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Ten Pound Poms can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.