''The Leaving of Liverpool'' is a 1992 television drama, an Australian–British co-production between the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC) and

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

(BBC). The series was about the

Home Children Home Children was the child migration scheme founded by Annie MacPherson in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent from the United Kingdom to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. The programme was largely discontinu ...

, the migration scheme which saw over 100,000 British children sent to Commonwealth realms such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

Plot

The series follows two children—Lily (played by

Christine Tremarco Christine Tremarco (born 1977) is a British television actress whose career began in 1992. She is best known for portraying the role of Davina Shackleton in the BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'' (2007–2009) and also in BBC ...

) and Bert ( Kevin Jones)—who meet at the Star of the Sea Orphanage in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England in the early 1950s. They go to Australia as child migrants where they are separated and are ill-treated. Lily is eventually reunited with her mother and returns to Britain with her but Bert is sent to a young offenders institution.

Cast

– Lily * Kevin Jones – Bert *

Frances Barber Frances Barber (née Brookes, born 13 May 1958) is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays '' Camille'' (1985), and ''Uncle Vanya'' (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gar ...

– Ellen * John Hargreaves – Harry * Bill Hunter – Father O'Neill *

Frank Whitten Frank Edgar Richard Whitten (15 November 1942 – 12 February 2011) was a New Zealand television actor. He was more recently known for playing Ted "Grandpa" West in the New Zealand television show '' Outrageous Fortune''.Megahey, LeslieEsteeme ...

– Brother Jerome *

Darren Yap Darren Robert Yap is an Australian actor and director. Early life and education Darren Robert Yap was born in Sydney and grew up in the suburb of Cabramatta. He was the third child of a Malaysian-born father and his third-generation Australia- ...

– Dave

Production

The screenplay was written by writing partners

John Alsop John Alsop Jr. (1724 – November 22, 1794) was an American merchant and politician from New York City. As a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776, he signed the 1774 Continental Association. Early life Alsop was ...

and

Sue Smith Sue Smith may refer to: * Sue Smith (politician) (born 1951), member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council *Sue Smith (footballer) (born 1979), English footballer *Sue Smith (trainer) (born 1948), British horse trainer *Sue Smith (writer) Sue Smi ...

who were working together on the miniseries ''

Brides of Christ ''Brides of Christ'' is an Australian television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1991.Albert Moran, ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', AFTRS 1993 p 94 The series takes place behind the walls of a Sydne ...

''. Alsop read a review of a book about the child migration scheme, ''Lost Children of the Empire''. Although the scheme had continued until 1967 and had affected thousands of children, little was known about it. Alsop approached Penny Chapman, head of drama at the ABC, with the idea for the story and she approved the funding.

Michael Wearing Michael Wearing (12 March 1939 – 5 May 2017) was a British television producer, who spent much of his career working on drama productions for the BBC. He is best known as the producer of the well received serials ''Boys from the Blackstuff'' (198 ...

, head of drama at the BBC, also agreed to fund and produce the drama.Bell, Janet
Curator's Notes: The Leaving of Liverpool (1992)
National Film and Sound Archive.

Broadcast

''The Leaving of Liverpool'' first went to air over two nights, 8 and 9 July 1992, in Australia on ABC TV. The series was not shown in the UK until over a year later, when it was shown on BBC1 on 15 and 16 July 1993. The Child Migrants Trust, a charity representing child migrants, criticised the BBC for refusing to display a

helpline A helpline, or switchboard, is a telephone service which offers help to those who call. Many helpline services now offer more than telephone support - offering access to information, advice or customer service via telephone, email, web or SMS. ...

number for the Trust, as the ABC had. The BBC responded that the series was a drama, not a documentary, and the corporation did not publicise helplines after drama programmes.Braid, Mary
BBC refuses 'orphan' trust helpline
''The Independent'', 13 July 1993.

Awards

In the

Logie Awards of 1993 The 35th Annual TV Week Logie Awards was held on Friday 19 March 1993 at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, and broadcast on Network Ten. The ceremony was hosted by Bert Newton and guests included John Spencer, Vanessa Williams, Tom Jones, Pamela ...

, ''The Leaving of Liverpool'' was nominated for Most Popular Telemovie or Mini Series, and won the award for Most Outstanding Telemovie or Mini Series.

References

External links

*
''The Leaving of Liverpool''
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaving of Liverpool, The 1990s Australian television miniseries 1990s British television miniseries 1992 television films 1992 films Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming BBC television dramas 1992 Australian television series debuts 1992 Australian television series endings Films about forced migration Films directed by Michael Jenkins