Set against the sweeping grandeur of the Himalayas and tea plantations of Northern India, Indian Summers tells the rich and explosive story of the decline of the British Empire and the birth of modern India – seen through both British and Indian eyes. Commissioned by Head of Drama Piers Wenger for Channel 4, the ten part epic will begin filming next year.
It’s the summer of 1932. India dreams of Independence, but the British are clinging to power. In the foothills of the Himalayas stands Simla; a little England where every summer the British power-brokers of this nation are posted to govern during the summer months. At the heart of Simla is the Royal Club – at its gate a burnished sign reads ‘No dogs or Indians’. Here the world of an illegitimate Anglo-Indian boy collides with that of tennis and polo, and gunshots interrupt the clink of ice on a sultry summer’s day.
The Kalka-Simla Express steams through the Himalayan foothills bringing the Britishers to India’s summer capital, while an endless trail of Indian and Tibetan servants prepare Viceregal Lodge. Inside, a handsome young Englishman Ralph Whelan waits accompanied by his restless and put-upon clerk Aafrin. Ambitious and charismatic, Ralph is a rising star in the Indian Civil Service. When an assassination attempt brings the evening’s glittering welcome to an abrupt end, their world comes under threat. For some this is terrifying, but for those in power – it’s an opportunity.
As Indian Summers begins, the stories of promises, secrets, politics, power, sex and love play out as the British Raj begins to falter and a nation opens its eyes to the possibilities of freedom.
