''Indian Summers'' is a British drama television series that began airing on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

on 15 February 2015. The show details the events of summers spent at

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...

, in the foothills of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, by a group of the British governing and trading community at the time of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. The first series is set in 1932. It was broadcast in several countries subsequently. The show was renewed for a second and final series on 1 March 2015. The second and final series is set in 1935 and began airing on 13 March 2016. Although initially planned by producers for five series, on 25 April 2016 it was announced that the show would not be renewed for a third series due to poor ratings and strong competition in its timeslot.

Cast

Henry Lloyd-Hughes Henry Lloyd-Hughes (born 11 August 1985) is an English actor. He is known for his roles in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005), '' Unrelated'' (2007), ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), '' Miliband of Brothers'' (2010), '' Weekender ...

as Ralph Whelan *

Nikesh Patel Nikesh Patel (born 1985) is a British actor, best known for his role as Aafrin Dalal in the TV series ''Indian Summers,'' Kash Khan in the mini series ''Four Weddings and A Funeral'', and Tom Kapoor in the sitcom '' Starstruck''. Early life Pa ...

as Aafrin Dalal *

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

as Cynthia Coffin *

Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in ''The Inspect ...

Lord Willingdon Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada, the 13th since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy and ...

* Jemima West as Alice Whelan *

Roshan Seth Roshan Seth (born 2 April 1942) is a British-Indian actor, writer and theatre director who has worked in the United Kingdom, United States and India. He began his acting career in the early 1960s in the UK, but left acting the following decade ...

as Darius Dalal *

Lillete Dubey Lillete Dubey (born 7 September 1953) is an Indian actress and theatre director. She has worked in Indian and international theatre, television and films in Hindi and English languages. Dubey began her career with Barry John in Delhi and was the ...

as Roshana Dalal * Aysha Kala as Sooni Dalal * Alexander Cobb as Ian McLeod * Fiona Glascott as Sarah Raworth *

Craig Parkinson Craig Parkinson (born 11 March 1976) is an English actor and podcaster. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Shaun in the E4 series '' Misfits'', twins Jimmy and Johnny Kray in the ITV series ''Whitechapel'', and DI Matthew "Dot" Cottan ...

as Dougie Raworth * Olivia Grant as Madeleine Mathers * Amber Rose Revah as Leena Prasad *

Rick Warden Richard George Warden is an English actor. Warden studied at Dr Challoner's Grammar School and received a B.A. honours in history at Churchill College, Cambridge, 1994. He married actress Lucy Barker on 1 May 2004. He is probably best known ...

as Ronnie Keane * Tanmay Dhanania as Naseem Ali Khan * Ashna Rabheru as Shamshad Dalal *

Indi Nadarajah Indi Nadarajah (Tamil: இந்தி நடராஜா; born 2 July 1959) is an actor and comedian based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He regularly performs on the Malaysian stage for both public and private shows. At present, he works with fellow ...

as Kaiser * Ash Nair as Bhupinder

Series 1

* Ellora Torchia as Sita * Edward Hogg as Eugene Mathers *

Alyy Khan Alyy Khan (or Aly Khan, ur, ; born 6 December 1968) is a British-Asian actor and host who has worked in Hollywood, Bollywood and Lollywood films and television series. He is known for his roles in the films '' A Mighty Heart'' (2007), '' ...

as Ramu Sood * Daniel Skitch as Shopkeeper * Anthony Theil as The Coroner

Series 2

Art Malik Athar ul-Haque Malik (born 13 November 1952), known professionally as Art Malik, is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant Ivory tel ...

as The Maharajah of Amritpur *

Rachel Griffiths Rachel Anne Griffiths (born in 1968) is an Australian actress. Raised primarily in Melbourne, she began her acting career appearing on the Australian series ''Secrets'' before being cast in a supporting role in the comedy ''Muriel's Wedding'' ...

as Sirene/Phyllis *

Sugandha Garg Sugandha Garg is an Indian actress, singer and television host. She was last seen in Indian web series '' Guilty Minds''. Career Garg appeared as Shaleen in the film '' Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na'' (2008). She played the role of the best friend ...

as Kaira Das * Arjun Mathur as Naresh Banerjee *

Blake Ritson Blake Adam Ritson (born 14 January 1978) is an English actor and director. Early life Blake was born on 14, June, 1978 in London and attended the Dolphin School in Reading, Berkshire until 1993, before going to St Paul's School in West Lond ...

as Charlie Havistock

Production

The series was filmed in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

, as a stand-in for Simla. Simla was not chosen due to the large number of modern buildings and a monsoon season that would have interfered with filming. Shooting locations included

Penang Hill Penang Hill is a hill resort comprising a group of peaks near the center of Penang Island, Malaysia. It is located within the Air Itam suburb, west of the center of George Town. Penang Hill is also known by the Malay name ''Bukit Bendera'', ...

and historic buildings in and around George Town, which share a similar British colonial architectural lineage.

Overview

Series 1 (2015)

Series 2 (2016)

On 1 March 2015, Channel 4 confirmed that ''Indian Summers'' would return for a second and final series in 2016, starring new cast members including Art Malik and Academy Award nominated Rachel Griffiths. The first episode aired on Sunday 13 March 2016. The 10-part series returns to Simla in the summer of 1935, three years after the events of the first series. Paul Rutman, creator and writer of the series, said: "Our story moves forward three years, to a Viceroy’s last summer, a political gamble to stifle Independence and a great reckoning for Ralph, Alice and Aafrin."

Reception

The first series of ''Indian Summers'' received largely positive reviews, gaining a score of 88% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. At the time, the first episode was Channel 4's highest rating original UK drama in over 20 years. After the first episode aired, ''The Times'' described the series as "A work of subtlety, intelligence and some beauty." ''The Independent'' wrote "Indian Summers is a fully immersive experience that plunges its audience headlong into 1930s Simla in British-ruled India." ''The Daily Express'' said "The opening did not disappoint." In the United States, the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' called the series "exemplary" and stated that Rutman had an "exquisite sense of character".

International broadcast

''Indian Summers'' premiered in the United States on PBS on 27 September 2015. It premiered in Australia on

BBC First BBC First is an entertainment subscription television channel featuring comedy, crime, drama and film programming, originating from UK and mostly from the BBC. The channel is wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios. The channel began rolling ou ...

on 16 May 2015 while in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, it premiered on

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the ...

TV One on 7 June 2015. In

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

, the show premiered on

Kanal 2 Kanal 2 is a privately owned Estonian television channel. Its literal name in English is "Channel 2". The channel was established by Ilmar Taska. The channel began broadcasting on 1 October 1993. History The channel started broadcasting on ...

on 12 July 2015 and on

SVT1 SVT1 (SVT Ett; commonly referred to as Ettan) is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden. History Television in Sweden officially launched on 4 September 1956 with the launch of '' ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

on 20 June 2015. On 31 May 2015 it premiered on NRK1 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

.Indiske somre
på NRK TV. Retrieved 29 May 2016. In Finland, the show premiered on Yle TV1 on 22 November 2017.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=3706628, title=Indian Summers *
Indian Summers
' at Channel 4 Fiction set in 1932 Fiction set in 1935 2015 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings Channel 4 television dramas English-language television shows Television series set in the 1930s Television shows set in Shimla Television shows set in the British Raj