prhiannon I love India and love historical drama and I usually like BBC shows, so I expected to love this. After four episodes I can see it's not going to hold my interest. The history, which I didn't know much about, is fascinating, but the female characters are not portrayed as fully balanced human beings. Their narrative and character development is based, with a couple of small exceptions, entirely on their relationships with the men in their lives. The female/female conversations sometimes pass the Bechdel test in letter, but not in spirit, and their interactions with each other ring false to the female viewer. The (one) female character over 45 is stereotypically manipulative and small-minded. Yawn. I can get this from American TV, expect better from BBC.Reading other viewers' reviews I see that it rings false for people who are familiar with the geographic region where the show supposedly takes place, as well. This is less of an issue with my enjoyment, but is disappointing to hear as I do like realism in historical dramas.Frustrating, because I would love to be able to enjoy this show. Maybe they will get more women involved in its writing and development down the road, but I'm not sure it will hold my attention long enough to find out. I may try to find some books or other materials about this historical period, however, because it's fascinating and as an American it's not something I've really learned much about.

kathzinn I am surely showing my age when I compare this wonderful production to the SUPERB 40 year old BBC production "The Jewel in the Crown". I am clearly a bigger fan of the latter, but that is not a criticism . "Indian" shows a slightly earlier time, giving even a more a sense of the build up to the necessary but horribly violent partition of 1947, so well portrayed in "The Jewel". All the acting in both productions is superb - the tensions between the various Indian populations and the pretty monolithic English population (with just a few English rebels accused of going "Native"). It is crucial history that most Americans are unaware of. I don't know how familiar even the present English generation is with this terrible colonial history. In both productions, the fantasy world the English had created in India, truly believing themselves not only superior to Indians of all classes, but perfectly secure from any native sense of injustice and rage - is incredibly remarkable - and not far removed from our own history of slavery and "Jim Crow-ism" in the US South (AND NOrth!). If you love this series, please also see "The Jewel in the Crown", for as full a picture of this time and place as we Americans are likely to get or understand. PS "Harry Potter's" own Julie Walters shows an appallingly wonderful side in "Indian". And Judy Parfitt, late of "Call the Midwife" was a similar character 40 years ago in "Jewel". - Nothing like a glorious English actress! (How did Maggie Smith escape either production??)

Laight So maybe the fact that the actors playing Americans can't come close to sounding American isn't the most important part of the show. But it's emblematic of what's wrong with this program. The whole show feels as if they're just not trying very hard. The script is good, but not very good. The acting is good, but not very good. The plotting is good, but not very good. And so on. You get the feeling that someone had the idea to make a Downton Abbey type show set in India, and include all the stock characters: the rich man, the poor man, the victim, the downtrodden, the saint, the sinner, etc. But no one decided to work hard to make it come together as a compelling piece of television. The one thing they do well: the cinematography. So if what you're looking for is a chance to look at beautiful scenery, without caring much about anything else, this show is for you. If you're looking for something engaging, look elsewhere.

eastcoastguyz We have come to expect more from Masterpiece Theater, but this is so shocking dull I can't believe it was even encouraged. Someone must have done one hell of a sales pitch in a meeting to get this project green-lighted. It moves at a nail's pace and at the end of a 2 hour episode you feel completely drained and realize you just wasted your time. A re-run of Downton Abbey in Season 1 would be a much better investment in your time. So consider this a friendly heads-up, this is not a well put together story. It lacks clear identification of the characters, their purpose and motivation of why they are there and what they expect to accomplish. At best it isn't even an interesting story or premise to hang on to. It was all I could do to stay awake because I was expecting some sense of what I was watching that never came.