Michelle Keegan’s BBC period drama ‘axed’ after losing 3,220,000 viewers

Michelle Keegan’s BBC show Ten Pound Poms has reportedly been cancelled after two seasons.

The historical drama, which first hit screens in 2023, is based on the true story of British workers who emigrated to Australia and New Zealand in search of a more prosperous life after the Second World War.

The Brassic star, 38, played nurse Kate Thorne alongside Game of Thrones’ Faye Marsay and saw their families offered a tenner each to make the move Down Under.

The show was met with a generally positive reception from critics, racking up a 79% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes – albeit with an audience score that was less favourable at 55%.

The show aired its second season at the start of this year and The Sun has now reported that it will not be back for a third.

A BBC spokesperson told the publication: ‘It’s been a joy to bring the story of the Ten Pound Poms to life for BBC viewers and we are really grateful to Danny Brocklehurst, Eleven and all the cast and crew who have worked on the series.’

The drama first aired in May 2023 to 6.37million viewers on the Beeb, but when it returned for a second season this April the viewership had halved to 3.15m by the end of the six episode run.

The news comes after Keegan admitted she would ‘definitely’ be interested in returning to the world of Ten Pound Poms.

‘Yeah, don’t get me wrong – I love this show and I feel very lucky to be a part of it,’ she said (via RadioTimes).

‘I feel like if the audience takes with this season and there’s hunger there for another season, fingers crossed the BBC will want another one. I’d definitely be up for it.’

It comes as her long-running Sky show Brassic is wrapping up after seven seasons of the misfit comedy.

Meanwhile, Keegan is currently filming the ITV police procedural The Blame, in which she is set to star as DI Emma Crane alongside Douglas Booth as a fellow detective inspector.

Metro contacted Michelle Keegan’s representative and the BBC for comment.

Ten Pound Poms is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.