Good morning.
Housebound in England during the pandemic, I opened a newspaper and came across a shocking story.
After World War II, the British Home Office secretly deported hundreds of Chinese seamen from Liverpool. These men had served bravely; their brutal reward was to be ripped from their wives, children and homes.
They were covertly shipped to Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China, and dumped on a quayside – betrayed, penniless and never to return to their old lives. What happened to these men? And how many Singaporeans today are related, known or unknown, to them?
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Research took us deep into newspaper archives and genealogy records. This evolved into The Exiles, a gripping two-part series about love and loss, racism and redemption.
Filming took place across four continents in an intense production, but moments of serendipity fuelled us. Mid-filming, Yvonne Foley, a Liverpool descendant, connected with a potential relative in Singapore. Would a DNA test reveal all?
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We were also humbled to capture a moving reunion of Singaporeans with their Australian relatives, meeting for the first time after seven decades.
The Exiles doesn’t merely seek to recount history. We wanted to show how past events, even from generations before, shape our lives today – and how humanity and perseverance can lead to salvation.
Tom St John Gray
Series director and producer
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