Indian Summers

Viewers who have long hoped for a successor to The Jewel in the Crown—the acclaimed 1984 PBS miniseries set in the waning days of the British Raj—will appreciate Indian Summers, which serves up a similar mix of romance, intrigue, and social commentary. The series is set in 1932 at an exclusive club at Simla in the foothills of the Himalayas—presided over by manipulative dowager Cynthia Coffin (Julie Walters)—where the British governing establishment and their hangers-on repair to escape the stifling summer heat. Characters and subplots abound—leading to a murder trial as the season progresses—but the focus here is on Ralph Whelan (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), the ambitious secretary to the English viceroy, who harbors a secret from his past that could destroy him both personally and politically, and Aafrin Dalal (Nikesh Patel), an Indian clerk whose family is involved in the independence movement, but who is also drawn deeper into Whelan's orbit (after Dalal foils an assassination attempt on Whelan). Both men's private lives also become more complicated as Whelan romances an American heiress (Olivia Grant) who he presumes is well-off, and Dalal becomes involved with Whelan's sister (Jemima West), newly returned to India with a baby and a secret of her own. While the soap-operatic elements of Indian Summers don't always comfortably fit with the series' vivid dramatization of colonial cruelties, the combination here of exquisite cinematography, focus on period detail, and strong acting easily make up for the occasionally overwrought plotting. Compiling all 10 episodes from the 2015 first season, extras include a behind-the-scenes documentary. Recommended. (F. Swietek)