Cast announced for Channel 4's epic period saga Indian Summers

29 April 2014

Julie Walters (Harry Potter, Mo, The Hollow Crown), Henry Lloyd-Hughes (The Inbetweeners, Harry Potter, Madame Bovary), Jemima West (The Borgias, The Mortal Instruments : City of Bones), Nikesh Patel (Bedlam, Honour), Roshan Seth (A Passage to India, Gandhi) and Lillete Dubey (Monsoon Wedding) will star in Channel 4’s 10-part epic drama Indian Summers.

Also joining the cast are Alexander Cobb (Mr Selfridge, Call the Midwife), Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty, Misfits), Fiona Glascott (Episodes), Amber Rose Revah (What Remains), Aysha Kala (Shameless), Olivia Grant (Legacy) and Edward Hogg (The Borgias).

Set against the sweeping grandeur of the Himalayas and tea plantations of Northern India, 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.

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.

Ralph Whelan (Lloyd-Hughes), 30, coolly ambitious, a coming man and tipped for promotion, is Private Secretary to the Viceroy of India. His sister, Alice (West), returns to Simla alone with her child and finds herself drawn to Aafrin (Patel), early 20s, Junior Clerk in the Viceroy’s office and son to Roshana (Dubey) and Darius (Seth), a gentle man and veteran of The Great War. Aafrin is brother to Sooni (Kala), early 20s, severe and beautiful, and his spoilt younger sister Shamshad.

At the heart of Simla’s society is Cynthia (Walters), 60s, widowed, doyenne of the Royal Club who is as at home in the tack room as she is the ballroom. A force to be reckoned with, her influence spreads throughout the community.

The cast of characters also includes Douglas (Parkinson), who runs a missionary school, his wife Sarah (Glascott) who yearns for the comforts of home, Ian McLeod (Cobb), the young and naïve Scottish tea plantation heir, and the mysterious Anglo Indian woman Leena (Revah).

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.

Filming will take place this summer with the series due to be broadcast on Channel 4 in 2015.

Indian Summers is the first Channel 4 commission from New Pictures. It is a coproduction with MASTERPIECE on PBS in the US. The 10-part series is created and written by Paul Rutman (Vera). The series will premiere with a 90-minute episode with the following episodes running to 60 minutes. It will be directed by Anand Tucker (Red Riding) and produced by Dan McCulloch (Endeavour). Executive producers are Charlie Pattinson (Shameless, Skins, Elizabeth 1), Elaine Pyke (Mad Dogs, Strike Back) and Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn, Cranford), and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE on PBS (broadcaster of Sherlock, Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge). Indira Varma is co-executive producer. Commissioned by Piers Wenger and Beth Willis for Channel 4. Indian Summers will be distributed internationally by All3M International.