New BBC2 series: Banished to a land Down Under

Russell Tovey enjoyed his time in Australia working on Jimmy McGovern’s major new TV drama, writes Susan Griffin

RUSSELL Tovey’s looking distracted, as his beloved pooch, Rockie — a grey French bulldog who appears regularly on his Twitter account — snuffles around his feet, scouring for food on the Manchester set of new drama, Banished.

The pair spent weeks apart when Tovey was in Australia to film scenes for the period drama, which follows the 18th century Irish and British convicts who were shipped off to a New South Wales penal colony.