The British Empire In Colour > General

THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN COLOUR Wednesday 4th August at 8.30pm



The British Empire in Colour is a major historical series describing the experience of the British Empire, for the rulers and the ruled. Personal letters and diaries capture the complexities and contradictions of life in the British Empire.

The British Empire in Colour premieres on the Documentary Channel on Wednesday 4th August at 8.30pm.

Produced by the innovative team behind the BAFTA Award-winning 'Britain At War In Colour' and the Peabody Award-winning 'Second World War In Colour' and narrated by Art Malik, this unmissable production uses original colour film - much of it previously unseen - to chart Britain's imperial path, from the zenith of the Indian Raj to the eventual disintegration of the Empire. The series does not purpose to tell the whole story of the British Empire in the 20th century. Instead, the footage is accompanied by personal diary extracts, letters and contemporary speeches to give a true flavour of what it was like to live under the British Empire, either as one of the rulers or as one of the ruled.

According to Producer Stewart Binns, the making of 'The British Empire In Colour' was a monumental task. "First of all, the subject matter covered almost a hundred years of modern history and involved events as diverse as the Mau-Mau Uprising in Kenya and Partition in India. But, apart from their scale and diversity, many of the issues were, and still are, hugely sensitive."

Added Series Producer Lucy Carter: "The British Empire, in our case the decline of the Empire in the 20th century, is an enormous subject, made up of many complex political and social chapters. But we were restricted to those areas for which we could find enough colour film. Luckily for us, there exists incredible colour archive of some of the most important and evocative stories - the Partition of India, the abandonment of Palestine, the Malayan insurgency and the war in Southern Rhodesia.

"An extensive team of researchers scoured archives and private collections all over the world to find the film, letters and dairies which feature in the series. Together they present, if not a comprehensive chronology about the end of the Empire, at least an informative, entertaining and certainly visually stunning representation of what it was like to live in the British Empire."

Tune in to see The British Empire In Colour, Wednesday 4th August at 8.3pm only on the Documentary Channel.