A new series is to be aired this autumn on Poland’s public broadcaster, TVP1. The subject: Poles in London. Shooting started in July for this 13 episode odyssey of fate and adventure, and it is the first Polish production about Polish residents in the Big Smoke.

John Beauchamp reports.

With the opening of the UK’s borders in 2004 to new members of the newly-expanded EU, came floods of workers. Many came from Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and of course Poland. So as native plumbers went over to the Isles for a new lease of life and a hope of enriching their bank accounts, so too came trouble: many Poles had not left the country up until that moment, and the veritable Mecca that is London didn’t always turn out to be so blissful. Maciej Kubicki is the story editor of ‘Londoners’, a new series that aims to show the trials and tribulations of newly-arrived Poles in Britain’s capital: “Many different Poles went to London, although they had one thing in mind when they left: to somehow change their lives, their fate, and to find a new direction in life.”

The series does remain fictional; however it is based on real life stories of Poles who went to the UK:

“We were inspired by real life events which happened to the latest emigration of Poles on the islands: these stories were a starting point which we elaborated upon. This is important because the series is not a documentary on the real lives of Poles; it is a work of fiction, although the script writers did spend a few months in London doing research,” said Maciek Kubicki.

Szymon Piątek is a freelance journalist who arrived in London four years ago: not too much hassle here, but a different experience nonetheless: “When I first came to London four years ago I came just to visit my girlfriend, I really liked so I thought I would take a year out from university, and here I am four years later. I’m really enjoying it, I’m back at uni here in London. I was really surprised [how] easy [it was to come here]. I had some problems with bank accounts, getting a National Insurance number, but in general it was much easier than I thought it would be.”

What may be seen as a novel approach to Polish television is the bilingualism that is present throughout the series, with both Polish and English being used simultaneously:

“Poles speak English with the British, they speak Polish amongst themselves, but the English they speak varies depending on their education and background. There has never been such a kind of show on Polish television where this bilingualism is so prominent. We have Polish, Polish-English or just English dialogues. It’s a new and interesting perspective for this series,” said Maciej Kubicki, story editor of ‘Londoners’.

With scenes set in Boroughs such as Ealing, coined one of the original Polish districts, Soho as well as The City and Canary Wharf, the series will provide an insight for Poles who stayed at home about what their lives may have looked like had they gone to the Big Smoke, London’s infamous nickname. For Poles who have already come back from the UK, many of the scenes may seem all too familiar…