Scheduled to air this fall, Indian Summers is looking to be another Downton replacement. Described as a cross between “Jewel in the Crown” and Downton Abbey, the critically acclaimed series has already been picked up for a second season in the UK.

Is Indian Summers the new Downton Abbey?

Channel 4’s period drama Indian Summers is set in Simla at the twilight of empire. It was an extraordinary time, says Alex von Tunzelmann

‘Who could be unhappy in such a place?” declares a character in Channel 4’s epic new 10–part series, Indian Summers, set in the summer capital of Simla during the twilight years of the British Raj. The show promises a whirl of Himalayan tea plantations, steam trains, polo and glamorous parties, interracial romance, mustachioed imperialists toasting the king–emperor, eccentric memsahibs and earnest, angry young Indians, desirous of freedom. The real story of the empire in Simla is every bit as extraordinary – and romantic.

Caught between the sparkling waters that feed the Sutlej River and the soaring peaks of the high Himalayas, Simla was (and is) captivating. In the years before air conditioning, the British could not endure the fierce heat and monsoon rains of summers in low–lying Calcutta or Delhi. Everything thrived in the higher and more temperate climate of Simla, an Indian Garden of Eden where cacti, orchids, pines and deodars grow side by side.

Click here to read more.