Droughtlander suggestions: Watch A Place to Call Home for David Berry

This week’s show suggestion for Droughtlander is A Place to Call Home

Are you ready for a new TV show to check out while waiting for Outlander to return? In our second week of Droughtlander suggestions, we’re moving onto a TV series from Australia. It’s all about A Place to Call Home.

It’s not a “new” show but it will be “new to Sassenachs” in many cases. It will give a bit of David Berry while we wait for the series to return and to see what is in store for Berry next. After all, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be part of Outlander Season 6.

This is actually the first place I saw Berry on screen. And I’ll admit that I was disappointed to not see him in the later seasons, but we can blame Outlander for that, so I’m not as miffed anymore.

What is A Place to Call Home about?

A Place to Call Home is set in 1950s Australia. It starts with a family heading across the seas from England to Australia, where they come across an Australian nurse. The family and this nurse immediately gain a connection, although not everyone takes to her kindly. The matriarch of the family is completely against her being anywhere close to her son and grandchildren.

And so starts a story of two people from different classes of society finding their way to each other. Can George and Sarah be happy together when they have some family members meddling? Then there are the adult children, who love to defy expectations. One of those is Berry’s character, David, who is hiding (and struggling with) the fact that he’s gay.

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Why you need to watch A Place to Call Home

There are many TV shows that touch on expectations of the past. They touch on the way people who were different were treated, on how people viewed gay men and women, and even of how the different classes of society were supposed to stay away from each other.

A Place to Call Home offers this but with a slight twist. We’re so used to watching U.S.- or UK-based shows that we don’t get a sense of what it was like elsewhere. This brings an Australian focus, shortly after World War II, and the aftermath of the war against Japan. We get a look at how the Aboriginals were treated and some of the steps people would go through to “get rid of their perversions.”

All the while, there’s a heart within the storylines. This is about people with flaws and secrets, but who are willing to better themselves for the people they love. It’s about people following their hearts, but the show doesn’t always offer a happily ever after. We have characters defying social pressures to push forward into a new world.

At the same time, there are couples you’re going to route for. While they’re not as passionate as Claire and Jamie, that’s not the point of this story. It’s about the life in 1950s Australia, with the good and bad. One thing I do adore is that it doesn’t shy away from the truth, although there are areas that could have been done in more detail. Nothing is ever perfect, right?

Over the course of six seasons, we get stories of love, loss, trauma, fear, and joy. It’s not a series to miss.

Watch A Place to Call Home on Acorn TV.