‘Indian Summers’ catch-up episode 9 – love and death in the final straight (details of twitter ask actors)

April 18 2014

Everything is set for an explosive climax to Channel 4’s colonial blockbuster…and YOU get a chance to ask two actors just what you want through twitter, read on…

By Chayya Syal

TO HANG or not to hang? That is the question on everyone’s lips following the end of last week’s (April 12) explosive episode which saw a series of revelations unfold in front of our very eyes.

Episode 9 finished on a high which left viewers hungry for its final 90 minute episode which will be aired this Sunday (April 19) at 9pm on Channel Four.

As the first series comes to a close many alliances, precarious love affairs and friendships have been left hanging in the balance. Episode 9 opened on a rather sad note as lovable Eugene (Edward Hogg) died of malaria which had been exacerbated by living in squalid conditions – thanks Cynthia Coffin (Julie Walters pictured above)! His sister, Madeleine (Olivia Grant), was distraught at his death and following Cynthia’s “advice” began packing to return to America.

We also saw unlikely allies team up as, in a major plot twist, Sergeant Singh was revealed to be a double agent working for both the British and freedom fighter Nalini Ayer (Ayesha Dharker).

Questions of allegiance were put to the test as Miss Ayer offered Aafrin (Nikesh Patel) the chance to join the freedom fighters and provide them with more incriminating evidence that would unite the Indians against the British. So that’s why Sergeant Singh didn’t hand in that letter about Ralph’s assassin!

Will Aafrin jeopardise his job in the Civil Service, the safety of his family and his secret relationship with Alice (Jemima West) to join the freedom fighters?

In what was one of the finest scenes of acting in series 1, we saw the seemingly unbreakable alliance between Ralph (Henry Lloyd-Hughes pictured above) and Cynthia spectacularly collapse as the truth about her role behind Jaya’s (Hasina Haque) suffering surfaced. It turns out that a day after a younger Ralph had told Cynthia about his then relationship with Jaya, she had him sent away to Burma. This series of revelations shows that Cynthia is far more manipulative and cunning than we had previously thought!

And to rub salt into Ralph’s wounds, she had also written a secret letter to the Head of Jaya’s village saying that she was ‘acquainted with an Englishman’. The letter saw Jaya became an outcaste and left desolate while pregnant with Ralph’s child – Adam (Shachin Sailesh Kumar) – that Ralph did not know about. Talk about the pen being mightier than the sword!

As Ralph stormed out of the room, Cynthia rather ungraciously, yelled: ‘And your fiancé’s flat broke! The lot of them are!’
Has her cool, calm and collected mask finally slipped to reveal the monster within? Luckily, Ralph managed to stop Madeleine in time as he decided to do the right thing by her and go forward with their plans to marry.

In other news, Alice came clean to Ralph about Sarah Raworth (Fiona Glascott) blackmailing her and threatening to expose Alice’s past to the British in Simla. We sat there expecting Ralph to find a flight of stairs to casually shove Sarah down, but Mr Smooth got rid of Mrs Raworth in style.

Sarah is desperate to fit in with high society and become part of the fold in Simla. Unfortunately, all of her efforts have gone in vain, especially after her untimely vom attack in court when Dougie (Craig Parkinson) publicly defended Leena (Amber Rose Revah).

Ralph played on this and offered to contact an old professor from his school to put the Raworth’s son, Matthew, into one of the finest schools in London. Sarah fell for it, as Ralph showed us a lesson in how to deal with frenemies, by declaring: ‘It was all Alice’s idea!’

Up until the last part of Episode 9, we had been kept in the dark about Jaya’s murderer until Ralph spotted his butler Bhupi (Ash Nair) celebrating something with his wife. As Bhupi’s wife shows him the bracelet, which her husband had supposedly bought from the bazaar, we see Ralph’s face change from Mr I’m-So-Happy-For-You to Mr What-The-Hell-Is-That-On-Your-Wrist? The bracelet is the same one that Jaya wore – is Bhupi the murderer? If so, why would he want to kill her?

Back at the Civil Service’s office, Ralph and Aafrin are presented with two envelopes which each decide the fate of Ramu Sood; one is to send him to the gallows and the second is to pardon him of all charges. Which will they pick? Will this be enough ammunition for Aafrin to join the freedom fighters? Or will an innocent man hang for a crime he did not commit?

Sunday’s final episode sees the return of our hero Ian McLeod (Alexander Cobb) as he continues to fiercely rally against Ramu’s death sentence. Will he be successful? Will he cut a lonely figure against a backdrop of social injustice and corruption or will others stand by him?

The first series reaches its end on Sunday (April 19) at 9pm, Channel Four. We will be live tweeting the entire episode and will be asking all of our users to send in questions for an exclusive Q&A with Jemima West (Alice Whelan) and Aysha Kala (Sooni Dalal). The deadline to send your questions is 8 pm Monday, April 20.

Please tweet @asianculturevul your questions to each of the actors using the following hash tags: #ACVASKALICE and #ACVASKSOONI

We look forward to it!