TV series are often in love of the lore of India and British colonialism. These two miniseries, "Beecham House" and "Jewel in the Crown" approach India during different time periods and with a different lens.
"Beecham House" is set during the tail end of the Mughal Empire when the East India Company is knocking on the door of adding Delhi to the British Empire. The series has been called Delhi Downtown Abbey, because Mrs. Patmore, Lesley Nicol, of Downton's kitchen is Mrs. Beecham the British matriarch of a family in a grand Indian mansion.
The "Jewel in the Crown" at the tail end of the British Raj, ripe for partition and Lord Mountbatten, is based on novels and tackles some themes in more profound ways and with an intersperse of news reals which make for a docu-drama feel. This is something lacking in "Beecham House" which is like an Indian-British Soap Opera.
The nature of marriage, culture and inter-cultural relations, mortality and missed opportunities all play a part in the plots of each story of India.
Each miniseries has their own merit and is a creature of the creation of the filming as well as the historical setting of the plot.
