Several online publications have included Banished in their 2015 shows to look forward to. The series will broadcast on BBC2 in the UK and BBC First in Australia. No broadcast date has been revealed yet.

Jimmy McGovern, creator of Cracker, is the main writer on this tale of the foundation of Australia, in which Wenham plays Governor Phillip. Because we have to study it at school, we think it's boring, but McGovern says: "How the first convicts survived is the best story I've come across in over 30 years as a dramatist. When you've got something like that, you don't worry about the narrative; you just concentrate on the characters. That is what we did. Consequently I don't think I've ever written anything so character-driven." SMH

From award-winning writer and creator, Jimmy McGovern, comes Banished, starring David Wenham as Captain Arthur Phillip, in an ambitious new drama about Australia’s first convict settlers. Co-commissioned with BBC Two in the UK and produced by RSJ Films/See-Saw Films (Top of the Lake), this epic seven part series is loosely inspired by events in 1788 when Britain established a penal colony in Australia. Banished will be the first local production commissioned for BBC First. Culture Street

Shot in both Australia and the UK, Banished is written by the award-winning Jimmy McGovern, and looks set to be a truly epic piece of television. Set in 18th century Australia, Him and Her’s Russell Tovey stars alongside Ripper Street’s MyAnna Buring and Green Wing’s Julian Rhind-Tutt as a group of convicts sent to the former colonies, and explores the struggles they endure and the relationships they forge in order to survive. The trailer has already aired, and it’s clear that no expense has been spared for this seven-part series. Wales Online