Airdate: Indian Summers

Upcoming UK period drama Indian Summers, starring Julie Walters, will premiere in Australia on BBC first in mid May.

The 10 part series, which premiered to an audience of 5 million viewers in the UK in February is Channel 4’s best performing drama in more than two decades.

The cast also includes Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Jemima West, Roshan Seth, Nikesh Patel, Lillete Dubey, Aysha Kala, Olivia Grant and Craig Parkinson.

Filmed as it is on location in Malyasia, the series is set in the summer of 1932 against the sweeping grandeur of the Himalayas and the tea plantations of Northern India. 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.

The drama tells the rich and explosive story of the decline of the British Empire and the birth of modern India, from both sides of the experience. But at the heart of the story lie the implications and ramifications of the tangled web of passions, rivalries and clashes that define the lives of those brought together in this summer which will change everything.

Julie Walters plays Cynthia, a widow and doyenne of the expats Royal Club. A force to be reckoned with, her influence spreads throughout the community.

Saturdays at 8.30pm from May 16. The first and last episodes are 90 minute specials.