Oranges and Sunshine

Sue, right now, your baby needs to be safe

and you need a bit of support, don't you?

I know you love her. Of course you do.

But this will give you a chance to sort yourself out.

I couldn't get on top of it, with everything...

Don't, Margaret. Don't take her.

Do you want to put her down, Sue?

Just put her in the carrycot.

You all right, love?

Yeah?

Put her down.

There you go.

You'll be able to see her tomorrow.

I'll take you to her and you'll be able to see that she's fine.

Whoa, darling.

Don't!

Don't! Please! Margaret, please!

I'll do better, I will!

The thing I love about this group

is that you don't have to explain yourself here.

We've all been adopted as kids

and OK, we've all had different experiences after that,

but it's a big bottom line, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm glad to be here tonight. I don't mind telling you.

I've been getting a lot of grief at work.

Things have been getting me down, really.

Been feeling a bit, a bit lonely.

You know, when you always think

is it because of what happened when I was a kid?

You know, maybe I'll never be right.

But you can't always know that, can you?

You just... you just always wonder...

Is this where the Triangle Group is?

Yes, that's right, but we've finished for the night.

Charlotte. Charlotte Cooper.

Can I have a quick word? It won't take a minute.

Well, what you're looking for isn't really what this group does.

This is a local support group, really.

I might be able to refer you to somebody who'd be able to offer you counselling.

I don't want counselling. I want to find out who I am.

Well, this isn't really the way to...

I don't even know if my name and birth date are right.

I remember leaving England - I was four years old -

I was in a children's home because my parents were dead.

They sent me in a boat to Australia.

All I know for certain is I was born in Nottingham.

What do you mean they put you on a boat?

They put us all on a boat for Oz. Hundreds of us.

Your adoptive parents were emigrating?

No. No parents, no guardians.

Just a couple of hundred kids, they sent us away.

- That can't be right. - What do you mean?

It's simply not legal. There's no way a group of unaccompanied children

would be shipped off like that. - You calling me a liar?

No, of course not.

That is the one thing I know...

I know about who I am.

Don't you tell me that's not true.

OK, look. I can see you're upset.

Why don't you come to my office on another day?

Take this. That's my name, that's all I've got to tell anyone where I've come from.

It is 10:30 at night-

I can't find anything else. I've tried everything.

I've been everywhere.

Now, my time's running out. I'm flying back...

So you have a look, and you write and tell me how wrong I am.

You come 10,000 miles to find home, they call you a liar.

Wait.

You're not a bloody saint, You were tired.

Yeah, I know, but I should have seen it coming.

You can't always see it coming.

- Why's Ben out of bed? - Oh, hello, miss. Ben spilled his juice.

- It wasn't my fault. - What are you doing out of bed?

I can't sleep. Can I read?

No. Go on, go back up to bed and I'll come tuck you up in a minute.

It's not fair, I'm older than him.

- Happens all the time. - Come on, up you go.

I just hope I did the right thing.

Margaret, we're social workers. There's no right thing.

There's social-work practice, court decisions...

My professional judgment.

Which means that sometimes you're doing the right thing,

and sometimes you're oppressing the poor

with the middle-class values of a reactionary government.

Don't make that face at me. Kiss from Mummy.

Sometimes, you're just tired.

Ooh, you're heavy. Now, then.

Mum?

Mum?

Had bad dream.

Oh, sweetie. You OK?

What happened?

It was a long, long tunnel thing and I couldn't...

You couldn't what?

Couldn't get out and I couldn't find you.

Darling, I'm here.

I lost you.

Oh, sweetie. I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere, OK?

All right?

You going to go back to sleep?

All right.

- I think you have to talk about it. - Exactly.

I only told my husband just this last year.

Good for you.

What do you think, Nicky?

Um, well, I know what you mean, but sometimes I think it sounds stupid

if I told everyone what was bothering me.

What is it?

Um...

It's my brother, my brother Jack.

Uh...

I don't really see him, you see.

Do you want to tell everyone who Jack is, Nicky?

Mmm...

Uh, yeah.

- That's my brother, Jack. - That's lovely.

He found me a few years ago.

Um...

Just got a letter out of the blue.

'Dear Nicky, I think I may be your brother Jack. '

And he was.

Well, soon as I saw him, I knew.

I mean...

I remembered. That's right.

Once upon a time, I used to have a brother.

So where is he?

Australia.

Can you believe it?

It was the Sally Army who found me for him.

They'd taken us both in and put me in my first foster home

and shipped Jack off to Australia.

So, uh...

I mean, I know I have family, I suppose,

but he's so far away, and sometimes it's hard to feel...

Anyway.

So was he adopted by an Australian family?

Uh, no. No.

It was just kids, Jack said.

A big ship full of kids from 5 to 13,

all being sent off to Australia.

You never told me that bit, Nicky.

- Didn't I? - Well, that's what happened.

Could still all be just coincidence.

Do you think so?

Well, if children did emigrate to Australia in any numbers,

there must be some record of them,

I was just wondering if you had any records

of any unaccompanied children

sent to Australia in the 1940s and '50s.

I don't think we ever had those records in Australia House.

So there were children sent out there?

Um, do you know how many?

When? Why were they sent?

I've already told you.

We don't have any more information.

So who would know?

Why don't you ask your own government?

They're the ones who sent the kids out there.

I know, I couldn't believe it.

I mean, I was still half thinking that the story couldn't be true

and he just came out with it.

Yeah.

No, no. I think I'm going to...

I think I'm going to still get the later train

and I'm going to try St. Catherine's House now.

See if I can find Charlotte's birth certificate.

If I can get her mother's name off that,

then I can probably find out when she died,

and then when Charlotte was placed in an orphanage.

we can start to trace her journey.

Maybe get some clues about why Nicky's brother was sent away as well.

Charlotte's mother wasn't dead.

Lovely to see you, Merv. How was your day?

Charlotte said she was in an orphanage in 1950

because both her parents were dead.

Well, I found a record of a woman with her mother's name

who got married in Nottingham in 1956,

not dead, very much alive and eating wedding cake.

Might not be the same woman.

I've ordered up the certificate

but why would Charlotte have been sent if she wasn't an orphan?

So if her mother was alive in '56, she might still be alive.

- I know. - So you going to follow that up?

Well, I'll find the address on the certificate and follow the trail from there.

Do you think it's her?

About the right age.

Hello, Vera. Yeah, not bad. And you?

Is that the time already?

Thanks.

Hang on, I'll finish that up.

Excuse me, are you Vera Wilson?

That's me. How can I help you, love?

I was wondering if I could have a word with you in private.

It's something personal.

I'll take you through. What's it about?

It's about your family.

Oh, my God.

I knew you'd come one day.

It's you, isn't it? You're my baby.

No, Vera, I'm a social worker.