Diana Rigg, 1960s icon of TV, film and stage, is best known for playing Emma Peel in the Avengers and Tracy Di Vicenzo, the only woman whom James Bond married. What is less well known about her is that she grew up in India, the daughter of a railway engineer in the final days of the British Raj. In Episode One of Empire's Children she retraces her family's journey to India to discover more about their life. Her father was employed by Maharaja Ganga Singh on the Rajasthan railway and was to work there for more than 20 years. But the Indian independence movement was already gathering pace. British rule, which had been maintained in India for over 300 years, would soon be swept away, forcing Louis and his family to return to a changed Britain.
Best known for her roles in 'Coronation Street' and 'Dinner Ladies', actress Shobna Gulati was born and raised in Oldham. Although the roles she plays are often, as she describes, 'salt of the earth northern girls', she also trained in classical Indian dance. Shobna's ancestors come from the Punjab, a region that, since partition in 1947, spans north-western India and modern day Pakistan. Both her mother and father's parents moved to Bombay (modern day Mumbai). Her father was amongst the thousands of doctors who came from Commonwealth countries to Britain at the invitation of the British government in the 1960s. Like many British Asians today, Shobna's identity is shaped by her family's history in the former British Empire. Wanting to explore how her family has been shaped by the events of the past, Shobna retraced her family's journey from their ancestral home in the Punjab to the big cities of India, and finally to Oldham in Lancashire
David Steel was Leader of the Liberal Party between 1976 and 1988, steering their merger with the Social Democratic party. He was knighted in 1990 and was elevated to the House of Lords in 1997. A strong advocate of devolution, David became the first speaker of the new Scottish Parliament in 1999 before he retired from politics in 2003. Born in Scotland, David's life changed dramatically when he was 11 years old. His father, a Church of Scotland Minister, announced they were to move to Africa, to the British colony of Kenya. After four years, with the situation in Kenya becoming increasingly violent the family returned to Scotland. However, David's father made the journey back to Kenya to continue his work. It was only after his father's death in 2002 that David discovered a briefcase full of documents belonging to the Reverend Steel. They revealed that he played a significant part in the political turmoil that accompanied the birth of the new Kenya
Chris Bisson is an actor who has appeared in successful television shows such as 'Shameless', 'Coronation Street' and 'East is East'. Although he looks Asian and has played Asian shopkeepers and shopkeepers' sons, Chris doesn't see himself as Asian. Born in Manchester in 1975, his mother Sheila is white while his father Mickey was born in Trinidad and is ethnically Indian. Although the family's roots are in India, over the last century the British Empire has had such a dramatic impact on their lives that they have lost all connection with the country.
Jenny Eclair is an award-winning comedian and novelist, regularly seen on the TV programme 'Grumpy Old Women'. Jenny was a 'Forces' child, born in post-colonial Malaysia while her father, Derek Hargreaves, was posted there. Derek, now 82, was first posted to Malaya in 1952 as a lieutenant fighting the communist uprising in the jungle. Jenny wanted to retrace his footsteps and unravel his part in the Malayan Emergency, a 12-year guerrilla war fought by Malayan Chinese communists against the British. As military strategy turned to winning over the Malayans, the Emergency was to become known as the 'Battle for Hearts and Minds'.
Adrian Lester was born in Birmingham in 1968 and is an established figure in both the UK and Hollywood, having received critical acclaim in film, TV and theatre roles. He starred in four series of the BBC drama 'Hustle'. His film credits include 'The Day After Tomorrow', 'Primary Colors', 'Born Romantic' and 'Love's Labour's Lost'. Stories of Jamaica and its colonial past have resonated throughout his life. Though he is British by birth, Adrian's family came to Britain from the Caribbean island of Jamaica when it was under the rule of the British Empire. The key to his family history is Adrian's grandfather James, who returned to live in Jamaica in 1990.