The Raj, Romance, and Revolution Indian Summers Julie Walters and an international cast star in an epic of India on the cusp of change Sundays, September 27 - November 22, 2015 on MASTERPIECE on PBS

In 1932 the height of privilege was to be British in India, and the high point was the summer season at the hard-partying colonial retreat of Simla in the Himalayan foothills. Rude reality intrudes on this spectacular paradise in Indian Summers, starring Julie Walters (Oscar® nominee for Billy Elliot and Educating Rita) as the wily hostess of Simla society. Set during the twilight era of the British Raj, the meticulously recreated series airs in nine episodes on MASTERPIECE, Sundays, September 27 - November 22, 2015 at 9pm ET on PBS. MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston.

Joining the cast are a galaxy of British, Indian, and Pakistani stars, including Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Madame Bovary), Nikesh Patel (Bedlam), Jemima West (The Borgias), Roshan Seth (Gandhi), Patrick Malahide (The Paradise), and Bollywood legends Lillete Dubey (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Alyy Khan (Sharpe's Challenge).

Also appearing are Alexander Cobb (Mr. Selfridge), Aysha Kala (Shameless), Olivia Grant (Endeavour), Edward Hogg (The Borgias), Fiona Glascott (Anton Chekhov's The Duel), Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty), and Richard McCabe (Wallander).

Critics were awed during Indian Summers’ recent UK broadcast. The Guardian (London) proclaimed: “[T]his is the stuff of which epics are made … one of the most gorgeous, exciting shows around.” The Daily Telegraph (London) lauded the “swooningly romantic backdrop” and asked, “Is Indian Summers the new Downton Abbey?' And the Daily Mirror (London) found a garden of delights: “gripping interwoven storylines … great performances … stunning scenery … and a large helping of racy romance.”

Framed by the beginning and end of the summer season, when India’s British rulers left the hot plains for the cool slopes of Simla, Indian Summers centers on three brother-sister pairs. Ralph Whelan (Lloyd-Hughes) is the private secretary to the British Viceroy of India (Malahide). Ralph is an upwardly mobile, politically ambitious bachelor, hiding a checkered past. He is joined by Alice (West), his beautiful younger sister who appears suddenly from England with her little boy—and conspicuously without her husband.

Next there is Aafrin Dalal (Patel), an idealistic clerk in the elite Indian Civil Service, who wins Ralph’s trust by saving his life. Aafrin seems marked for rapid advancement in the British bureaucracy, but his sister Sooni (Kala) threatens his career by agitating tirelessly for national independence.

Then there are two adrift Americans: Eugene Mathers (Hogg), an expatriate architect from a wealthy Chicago family, who has been taken in by Ralph after being stricken with malaria; and Eugene’s seductive sister, Madeline (Grant), who comes to care for him—and ends up caring for Ralph.

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Funding for MASTERPIECE provided by Indian Summers Press Release, Page 2

Pulling the strings that animate much of the action is Cynthia Coffin (Walters), a manipulative military widow who presides like an empress over the Royal Simla Club, where the ruling class lounges in subtropical splendor, sipping gin and tonics, running the country, and dancing the night away.

Apart from this in-group are two other contingents representing British imperialism: tea plantation owner Stafford Armitage (McCabe), recently joined by his eager and inexperienced nephew Ian McLeod (Cobb); and missionary Dougie Raworth (Parkinson), whose rescue of a nameless mixed-race boy launches a major storyline in the series. Meanwhile, Dougie’s desperately homesick wife, Sarah (Glascott), is slowly losing her mind in this strange land.

Needless to say, illicit encounters, assignations, and forbidden affairs abound. And there are also complications offstage, where pressure is building for an end to British rule. Gandhi has recently been arrested on the viceroy’s orders, and he is staging a hunger strike from his cell, exerting pressure that renders the world’s greatest empire helpless.

Indian Summers is a Co-Production of New Pictures for Channel 4 and MASTERPIECE in association with All3Media International. It is created and written by Paul Rutman. The Executive Producers are Charlie Pattinson, Elaine Pyke, Simon Curtis, and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE on PBS. The Co-Executive Producer is Indira Varma. The Producer is Dan McCulloch. The Director is Anand Tucker.

The top-rated primetime show on PBS, MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer. Funding for the series is provided by Viking River Cruises and Ralph Lauren Corporation with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series’ future. pbs.org/masterpiece

MASTERPIECE Press Contacts Ellen Dockser, [email protected], 617-300-5338 Olivia Wong, [email protected], 617-300-5349 Heidi Schaeffer, [email protected], 310-854-4800

July 2015