The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Well, I must say that the plot is interesting and the acting up-to the mark, especially season one. The 2nd season left a lot to be desired, especially during the end and no wonder they lost ratings and didn't get renewed. **SPOILER ALERT** The climax really is an anticlimax and in a way, quiet disappointing.Although, the real kicker for me and what frustrated me the most was the depiction of Shimla and the people there. It was utter disgust, to the point of things seeming absolutely ridiculous, the way the screenwriters described the summer capital. It seems they had an Indian origin director, and also said to have made use of expert advise when depicting Shimla. Well, if they have done so, they have been ripped off by some fakes, for what was shown was a bunch of bull. Simla lies at the foothills of Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh - surrounded by hills and apple orchards and pines, where the highest summer temperature here is lower coldest winters in western and south India. People cover themselves with blankets even in summertime. But what was shown here was typical Deccan plains, more common in southern India and rest of south east Asia. They showed us the rice-fields(wow) and tropical forests, the dressing of the people - everything from another part of the country. It was painful to watch this, despite the story-line and the entertainment of the characters. Would request show creators to do just a little bit of a homework about the place they plan to write about or create a movie or TV series on. It's not really that difficult, unless you just don't give a damn which I feel was how the creators of this series felt :)Facts aside, if you still want to watch an entertaining drama set in India and the complex relationships between the British and Indians in pre-Indepndence India, this one is a must watch.

Indian Summers had the biggest rated launch for a channel 4 show in years. And yet a year later it was axed. How did that happen? For the most part it was a well written and acted show, with Julie Walters being brilliant as ever.Where this show struggled though is that it was up against better, more well known programmes on each of its two run outs. Even in this day and age of catch-up telly audiences had to make a choice, and they chose not to watch 'Indian Summers'.It was an expensive show to make, and when it didn't get the viewers there was only one way the story would go. Shame.

I wondered if I would enjoy this series, as of late I've found TV drama to be dire - for example the dialogue in Downton turned me right off, and I've not managed to watch an entire episode. This is different, it's a classier production, obviously there are inaccuracies and mistakes, and that's a shame, but the historical aspects are intriguing and the acting is a cut above anything else on TV today. The characters are well drawn and one gets the atmosphere of the day if not the actual situation and language. I take the points made in other comments. BUT the story is compelling, the characters and their mistakes and their pathways hold one to the screen until the episode ends and a wail goes up - not the end!!! Absolutely fabulous, it's a story, right? Based on facts perhaps, inaccurately portrayed - maybe, but it's a class drama and wonderfully done. I love it, and I didn't expect to do so.

Except for the fact it wasn't even shot in India! How sad it that?There were really no sympathetic characters. All the English were racists and bigots, all the Indians were... ciphers. Yes, a lot of the English of that time were horrible, espousing the beliefs on view in this program. But there were many who were sympathetic to the plight of the Indians, yet there are only two people in this program who seem to tolerate or even like the native people they live among, Alice and Ian McCloud? Just doesn't seem realistic. And Julie Walters character? Oh, lord, what a harridan! I couldn't stand hearing her voice after the first episode, the writers had her spewing such hate and venom. I don't expect something that's all rainbows and sunshine, but the amount of hate and racism and bigotry on display in each and every episode made me nauseous. It's called striking a balance, showing all sides of a story, something that wasn't on display here.The worst part was the storyline regarding the missionary's wife, Mrs. Raworth and the sister of the private secretary to the Viceroy, Alice Whelan. Alice has left her husband back in London, taken their child and run away to India, but to avoid scandal she tells everyone that her husband is dead. Well, because Mrs. Raworth is a nosy, desperate, social-climbing sneak, she winkles out the truth and holds it over Alice's head, blackmailing her in order to gain entre into the higher echelons of Colonial Indian society. The question is, why? Mrs. Raworth is about as threatening as a wet tissue; this is a women who would become confused at an intersection where the street signs have been swapped. All it would take is for Alice to slap Mrs. Raworth smartly on the face and say to her, "Go ahead, tell everyone I've left my husband. Yes, you might have a brief triumph over me, but it will be brief because I will make sure everyone knows you for the low, backstabbing, sneaky, pathetic blackmailing worm that you are. And once your true character is revealed, no amount of brown-nosing will ever get you the approval you so desperately crave. Which means I'll eventually regain my status, but you will never be looked upon at any kind of equal ever again." For Alice to be continually threatened by Mrs. Raworth was just completely unbelievable. And ridiculous. And utterly irritating to watch.The main problem is whoever wrote this thing was trying to set up a grand mystery with lots of intertwining strands of smaller mysteries that somehow tied into the whole. Instead what was created was a vague, muddied, and meandering plot that barely allowed the viewer to get a grasp on any one character before being whisked off to another scene and another "mystery." There was no character development or depth, no understanding of the motivation behind their actions, and because of the general sloppiness, no reason was given to care about any of the characters or why they did what they did or wonder how they ended up. There are moments in the script where we're shown, "Hey, look, this character has feelings, is acting a little bit sympathetic even if you normally don't like them! That means they have depth!" Unfortunately, I don't buy into those moments because they're just more examples of lazy writing. And I think all of this is because there's no source material to back the program up as with the far superior "The Jewel in the Crown." Which is why I will recommend that program over "Indian Summers" any day because unless you like a pretty veneer with no depth, there's little else to look at.