I'd never heard of Banished, even though I'm a regular PBS Masterpiece viewer. I don't recall that it was ever broadcast here in the US, but 2015 was a very busy year for me so maybe I missed it. Anyway, since it was "included with Prime" I just finished watching it on Amazon and was very sorry to learn only one season was produced!

I've read the criticism that it was "grim", and it was also faulted because no indigenous people appeared. SO WHAT??? It was, after all, a tale of some of the convicts and soldiers of the First Fleet of 1788 which established a penal colony (and the first settlement of Europeans in Australia) near present day Sydney, NSW. The fact that the action was largely limited to the encampment succeeded in making the confinement of all of the characters even more acute, which contributed to the drama. While no natives appeared, their hostile proximity was alluded to. IMO it didn't deserve to be categorized as merely grim -- there's plenty of warm, human interaction and comic relief.

Granted, some highly sensitive or prudish viewers may have objected to the emphasis placed on sex and the frequent use of bad language: F bombs fly with abandon, plus I wondered if the idioms "shag" and "wank" were common in the late 18th C (answer: "shag" was, "wank" wasn't). Since men outnumbered women by a 5-1 margin, it's understandable that sexual opportunity was a great source of interest and tension, but deprivation of other sorts was also depicted.

Production values are good. The cinematography succeeds in capturing a sense of confinement amid an expanse of untamed, luxuriant beauty which, along with the vast Tasman Sea, prevented escape. The ensemble of actors is quite fine, well cast, and featured outstanding performances. Banished deserved to be renewed, but a superb single season is still excellent entertainment.