A Place to Call Home: The Australian Period Drama With Six Seasons of Family Secrets and Intrigue

If Downton Abbey left you looking for another period drama filled with complicated families, forbidden relationships and secrets that refuse to stay buried, A Place to Call Home offers a very different setting with many of the same ingredients.

The Australian series follows Sarah Adams, played by Marta Dusseldorp, as she returns home after two decades in Europe and becomes entangled with the wealthy and influential Bligh family. Set in 1950s Australia, the drama combines romance and family conflict with the social attitudes, religious tensions and prejudices of the post-war era.

Running for six seasons from 2013 to 2018, the series gives its characters plenty of time to evolve while allowing its central mysteries and relationships to unfold gradually. Acorn TV describes it as a saga filled with secrets, passion, romance and intrigue, while Rotten Tomatoes lists all six seasons for streaming on Prime Video and Acorn TV.

Sarah Adams Returns Home

The story begins in 1953, when Sarah returns to Australia after spending 20 years in Europe.

Her journey home initially appears to offer the possibility of a fresh start. But Sarah’s encounter with the Bligh family quickly pulls her into a world of wealth, influence and carefully protected secrets.

While working as a nurse aboard the voyage back to Australia, Sarah meets the Blighs and becomes aware of a scandal within the family. Once she reaches Sydney, she also faces difficulties in her relationship with her estranged mother, who has not forgiven her for converting to Judaism.

With few alternatives, Sarah accepts George Bligh’s offer of a position at the Inverness hospital. The decision puts her directly in the path of George’s formidable mother, Elizabeth Bligh, who is deeply protective of her family and wary of Sarah’s presence.

Elizabeth Bligh and the Family at the Centre of the Drama

Played by Noni Hazlehurst, Elizabeth is one of the show’s central figures. She is determined to maintain control over her family and protect its reputation, creating an immediate source of tension with Sarah.

The Bligh household becomes the centre of a sprawling story involving love, loyalty, religion, sexuality, social status and personal betrayal. As Sarah becomes more closely connected to the family, the boundaries between outsider and insider begin to shift.

The drama also takes a much more personal turn when Sarah discovers that the husband she once left behind in Paris survived the Second World War.

That revelation forces her to reconsider the life she thought was over and adds another layer of uncertainty to her already complicated relationship with the Blighs.

A Post-War Australia Where Society Shapes Private Lives

Although the series is built around a wealthy family, its 1950s setting is more than decoration.

The social expectations of the period repeatedly shape the choices available to the characters. Religion, prejudice and changing attitudes collide with traditional ideas about family, reputation and respectability.

That gives the series a broader dimension than a conventional family saga. Personal relationships are constantly affected by the world surrounding the characters, and decisions that might seem private can have consequences within the wider community.

This is also where the comparison with Downton Abbey becomes understandable. Both dramas use an affluent household as a window into a society undergoing significant change, while placing family relationships and social pressures at the heart of the story.

But A Place to Call Home remains distinctly Australian, grounding its characters in the history and social atmosphere of post-war New South Wales.

A Large Ensemble of Interconnected Characters

Marta Dusseldorp and Noni Hazlehurst lead a substantial ensemble cast that grows increasingly interconnected throughout the six seasons.

Brett Climo plays George Bligh, while Craig Hall portrays Dr Jack Duncan. David Berry appears as James Bligh, with Abby Earl as Anna Bligh and Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood as Olivia Bligh.

The wider cast includes Aldo Mignone as Gino Poletti, Sara Wiseman as Carolyn Bligh, Jenni Baird as Regina Standish, Tim Draxl as Henry Fox and Frankie J. Holden as Roy Briggs.

Because the series runs for six seasons, these characters are not simply supporting pieces around Sarah and Elizabeth. Their relationships develop over time, with alliances changing and long-running conflicts taking unexpected directions.

That extended format is one of the show’s defining features. Storylines have room to build rather than being resolved within a handful of episodes.

Romance, Secrets and Social Conflict

The drama moves comfortably between romance, family melodrama and more serious social issues.

Sarah’s own history provides one of the show’s major sources of mystery, while the Bligh family continues to face problems of its own. Relationships are complicated by social expectations, personal secrets and the lingering effects of the war.

The series does not avoid melodrama. In fact, its heightened emotional storytelling is part of its identity. But the long-form structure allows those dramatic turns to be connected to the characters’ development rather than existing only as isolated twists.

Audience and critical reactions have also highlighted the performances and period atmosphere. Rotten Tomatoes’ season-one page records a 100% Tomatometer score from five reviews and an 84% audience score, while critics have praised the cast and described the drama as compelling and deeply romantic.

Six Seasons to Settle Into

For viewers looking for a substantial period-drama binge, A Place to Call Home offers plenty of material.

The first season contains 13 episodes, followed by 10 in Season 2, 10 in Season 3, 12 in Season 4, 12 in Season 5 and 10 in Season 6.

The sixth season premiered in August 2018 and served as the show’s final chapter. By that point, the characters had been followed through years of changing relationships, personal struggles and revelations.

The conclusion gives the long-running story a proper endpoint rather than leaving the Bligh family’s journey unfinished.

Why Downton Abbey Fans May Want to Try It

The two shows are not identical, and A Place to Call Home has its own Australian setting, tone and storylines. But the appeal for Downton Abbey viewers is easy to see.

Both dramas revolve around wealthy families, complicated relationships, romance, scandal and a society gradually moving away from older traditions. Both also use secrets and shifting loyalties to keep viewers invested in characters whose lives are deeply connected.

The key difference is the world surrounding them.

Where Downton Abbey is rooted in early 20th-century Britain, A Place to Call Home explores 1950s New South Wales, bringing questions of religion, prejudice, social class and post-war change into its family drama.

That makes it less a replacement for Downton Abbey than an opportunity to explore the same kind of character-driven period storytelling from a distinctly Australian perspective.

Where to Watch

All six seasons are listed on Prime Video and Acorn TV, while availability can vary by country. In Australia, JustWatch currently lists the complete series as available on 7plus with ads.

For viewers who enjoy long-running period dramas where family secrets can take seasons to unravel, A Place to Call Home offers a substantial story — and six seasons in which Sarah Adams and the Bligh family have plenty of time to reveal what they have been hiding.