[TV] Victoria's empire op BBC

quote:

Queen Victoria never visited her Empire. She was the very epicentre of it, so why should she? So, more than a century after her death, Victoria Wood is going to go and have a look for her.

Humorous and grave in equal measures, it is an epic journey that takes viewers on a breathtaking tour of the old Empire, beginning in India and continuing through Hong Kong, Borneo, Ghana, Jamaica, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia and Zambia, on the look-out for the residual evidence that we were there.

Victoria talks to people who have first-hand experience of the impact of the Brits or who have anecdotal evidence of our activities abroad. Viewers hear stories of remarkable deeds, listen to long-held grievances and sometimes just experience the places for what they are. This remarkably illuminating journey of a lifetime is told in three one-hour films.

Programme one takes in India, Hong Kong and Borneo and Calcutta is the first stop on Victoria's journey.

She takes a taxi through the city to see the extent of the British residue among the colours and textures of this marvellous place. She chats with Indian resident Toby Sinclair and discovers the intriguing way we learned local languages, and the legacy that will allow India to become an economic super power.
Then it's up to Darjeeling, where British women would avoid the intensity of the Calcutta summers, and where taking tea wasn't the only diversion in the long, often-lonely, summer nights.
The next stop is Hong Kong, where Victoria visits a vet to discuss the Chinese and British polar attitudes towards pets and has her love life analysed by a fortune teller.
Borneo brings Victoria face to face with the descendent of a chief head hunter, a local solidified bird-spit delicacy and a baby orang-utan's first attempts at climbing.