During lunch I usually turn the TV on...And there was that beautiful story I decided to record it and watch it latter. I thought it was a movie and this got me to 12 midnight but abruptly stop with the credit? This is when I realised it was part of a TV series so search the net to find more about it. This episode unlike its TV programme was called "Crossing the River" and luckily the first one. Even more lucky I found the next episode was on the day after I made my search several days after the first screening! I know very little about India beside the film "Passage to India" but this grubbed me from the start, it started with my year of birth over 70 years ago India under British rules and about to worry of Japanese attack.... But the life of these days was so well represented and also the culture clash worsen by cross culture the is an Indian who has been "Britishised" and back in India has to deal with the conflict. These days I have much trouble to follow a story without subtitles and deplore greatly there weren't any. It's such a shame as many people of my age have hearing difficulty I'm surprise broadcaster can't see this as I would have thought such work is directed mainly to my age group. Just the same it's very enjoyable.

You do not see series like this anymore.The Plot is superb, the actors are fantastic, and the "Last Days of the Empire atmosphere" is actually very good.If you are looking for some action, this is not your TV serial. It is a drama, and it is slow. However, the characters are superbly developed, and are extremely real.The story goes very deep into issues like racism, elitism, and the fears of a crumbling and hypocritical society. For some reason, the story also touches sexual repression, homosexuality, and sadism. There are even some veiled hints of lesbianism. While sex is not really the main theme, it is a recurrent part of the atmosphere in the series. The story starts with the life of a young, eccentric and idealist white & aristocratic British woman who is raped by a gang of Indian thugs. As you can imagine, the British establishment does not take it well and soon a scapegoat is found and blamed. The Scapegoat is subjected to a sadistic torture by a psychopathic British policeman who later joins the military. Funny enough, the British torturer is a repressed homosexual who enjoys inflicting pain and gets relief having sex with young Indian guys "Bazaar Style".Terry Porter as the Russian Count is by far the best character of the whole series. I take my hat before such a superb actor. Again, the Russian Count is described in the series as an "European Pederast".However, as I have said before, it is not really about sex. It is just a portrait of British colonial society in the last days of the empire. Very good, highly recommendable.

Saw the TV series first and then read all 4 books of the Raj Quartet. The books and the series are masterful and I have now purchased the DVD. The BBC and Masterpiece Theatre know how to present history. The actors are superb. I recommend the books and the series highly to anyone interested in history. What I found particularly interesting is the relationship between the Indians and the English Colonials and how the relationship changes over the course of the story which spans from 1939 - 1948 roughly. Paul Scott the author lived in India for a number of years and he fairly and painstakingly recreates the nuances, the feelings that flow between the occupier and occupied. It has been a pleasure to discover this series and the books. If you have not read them or seen the series, you are in for a great journey and treat.

Very disappointing series that had some potential. As the series continues, it increasingly becomes a forum for homosexual politics. Also, largely a woman's movie, in the the first half at least. The whole series revolves around a man you are encouraged to hate, then feel sorry for and then hate again. Even his demise, which you are hoping for by the end of the first of 15 episodes, is disappointing. The British are made out to be thoroughly disagreeable throughout most of the series. Very little history, geography and politics of India, which I had hoped to see. The black and white documentary interjections are out of place and several don't make any sense at all, for example, D-Day - this is a movie about India, not about the invasion of Normandy! It is a loathsome and ponderous work with little redeeming qualities. Stay away in droves.