Amy Adler Daphne Manners (Susan Wooldridge) is an orphan, having lost her father and brother in the early going of World War II. She travels to Mayapore, India to work in a local hospital and to visit her aunt who lives in a neighboring community. Unexpectedly, she meets Hari Kumar (Art Malik), an Indian gentleman who was raised in England from the age of two, at the best schools, but whose own father died and left him penniless. Although an alliance is strictly taboo at the time, the two of them fall in love. Soon after, Daphne is raped by hooligans and chief of police Ronald Merrick (Tim Pigott-Smith) wrongly arrests and tortures Kumar. With Gandhi already urging Indians to break away from Britain, the rape and bungled arrest serves as a lightning rod for acute trouble between the Brits and the Indian population. Meanwhile, Merrick becomes a rising star in the British army, two sisters, Sarah and Susan, search for personal happiness in the crumbling empire, a former missionary lady (Peggy Ashcroft) endures the loss of her greatest friend and, subsequently, her mind, because of prejudice, and Guy Perron (Charles Dance) becomes a witness to the lethal personality of Merrick. How will over "three hundred years" of British rule in India end? Did you say badly? This lengthy but outstanding series has really too many happenings to relate in a brief review. Yet, the relationship between Daphne and Hari is the springboard to everything else that occurs in this complex and lovely story. The British had, and still do have, much to offer the world as a civilization but its empire reached too far when it trampled under the basic rights of its conquered people and territories, as seen in this examination of India. All of the actors in this film are beyond compare, with Pigott-Smith a wonder as the evil and misguided police commander. The scenery is likewise breathtaking, the costumes are authentic to the times, and the cinematography is very beautiful. If you have any interest whatsoever in the history of the world, or in the basic struggle of the human race, you should make time for this monumental series, as soon as possible. It is a richly rewarding, touching and truthful look at a pivotal time in the history of mankind.

madeleinebecker 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.

davidlscally This British TV movie is slightly less than 800 minutes long and approximately 600 of those minutes are taken up with boring dialogue. To add insult to injury, the new DVD reissue comes without closed captions for the hearing impaired and for Americans, like me, who can't follow the low decibel mumbling of most contemporary British actors.I recently stumbled on a tape of an episode that I must have accidentally recorded off of TV almost 20 years ago. That episode was of some interest because it starred Charles Dance, who played a World War II Sargent caught in interesting soap opera like situations. I rented the rest of the movie so that I could catch up to that episode and, later, see how the thing turns out. I did not know that the first episode starring Charles Dance starts approximately 500 minutes into the movie. Other than the capable portrayal of a powerful, evil character by Timothy Pigott-Smith, very little of interest happens before Mr. Dance appears. At first it seems that Mr. Pigott will portray the main character, however he gets limited screen time during the middle half of the movie, a poor decision.Seemingly endless segments are taken up with boring dialogue between a group of arrogant, self centered, passive dependent British women with politically powerful connections. Occasionally their dialogue advance the plot slightly, however they mostly disseminate un-annotated harmful rumors and self serving xenophobic propaganda.Incidentally, the female characters have no monopoly on xenophobia and the complex exploitation of a conquered people. Mr. Pigott's character says and does things that would make the women seem like Mother Theresa by comparison.Words fail me. If I had known what I was getting into, I would have never rented this boring, unpleasant movie.

Henryk von Babenberg Arguably the best television series ever made, it captures perfectly the spirit of the novel and the time in which it takes place, a time in which the British were slowly losing India without properly realizing it till it was too late. The photography is breathtaking and the performances are outstanding by everyone. Dame Peggy Ashcroft as the haunted "servant" who has been accepted as a companion by Fabia Drake but who is later asked to leave when her protector dies and also by Geraldine James who slowly sees her world crumble before her eyes, unable to do anything about it, but finding at least SOME kind of solace in Tim Piggot-Smith's arms. Especially the first episode with the tender love scene between Susan Wooldridge and Art Malik (both utterly fantastic) is superb and not until much much later does the horrid truth about what happened that night occur to us. In short: a pure joy, which keeps you riveted to the screen from start to end. I have watched the entire series twice and will surely watch it again and again, if only to marvel at the performances and the craftsmanship of the production.