Episode 1

India, 1932. A nation dreams of independence, while an empire attempts to cling onto the vestiges of colonial power. In the village of Simla, British power brokers govern in the summer months, but with pressure building, what will spill forth for the future of India?, Brand new original 10-part drama. 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 the British power-brokers of this nation are posted to govern during the warmer months. 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. Revealing a tangled web of passions, rivalries and clashes that define the lives of those brought together in the shadow of the mountains, this is a summer that will change everything. In the first episode, Ralph Whelan (Henry Lloyd Hughes) and the rest of the Indian Civil Service begin the annual move to Simla. Ralph's sister Alice (Jemima West) returns to India, while the doyenne of British society Cynthia Coffin (Julie Walters) prepares the exclusively white British Club for the start of the summer season. The train to Simla is delayed, however, when a young boy is found collapsed on the railway tracks. Local missionary Dougie (Craig Parkinson) and his assistant Leena (Amber Rose Revah) seek medical attention for the child, leaving behind Dougie's furious wife Sarah (Fiona Glascott). Meanwhile, a mysterious assassin makes his way to Simla, leading to a bloody start to the summer season.