Masterpiece: The Jewel in the Crown

Based on Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet, Jewel in the Crown was an Emmy-winning 14-part presentation of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. The story is set during the last two decades of British rule in India. The plot is set in motion by the disappearance of British woman Daphne Manners (Susan Woolridge); educated Indian Hari Kumar is implicated and eventually imprisoned. Carrying the throughline of the story is investigating police superintendent Ronald Merrick (Tim Piggott-Smith), whose own life experiences touch the lives of the several families--British and Indian--involved in this multigenerational tale of class and color consciousness. Originally presented during Masterpiece Theatre's 1984-85 season, Jewel in the Crown was successfully repeated in the summer of 1987.