‘Everything seemed different out there — until we found Waitrose’: Jemima West and Nikesh Patel on filming Indian Summers

In 10 years as an actor, the only parts that were off limits for Nikesh Patel were in period dramas. “You hope they write an ethnic into Downton, and then there is just one,” he says. The handsome 29-year-old is sitting opposite me, strong eyebrows, sharply defined jaw and a Wembley accent. “I consider myself British but of Indian origin. It’s strange because period dramas are a huge part of our cultural output, and we have such diversity in the country. Yet the two don’t cross over.”

When Indian Summers, Channel 4’s new series set in 1930s India, came along, he was determined to be involved. “I prepared my arse off for the audition.”

The show has been described as “Downton Abbey goes to India” and fills the same 9pm Sunday slot. Patel plays Aafrin Dalal, a civil service “pen-pusher” with a repressed creative spirit. It is an ensemble piece on a grand scale with a budget of £14 million, making it the most expensive drama Channel 4 has ever commissioned. Patel’s co-star, Jemima West, who meets us at the Young Vic, describes it as “a puzzle, with compelling stories”.

West, 27, plays Alice Whelan, who has left her husband and baby in England for India, where her brother is the Viceroy’s private secretary.

There has been debate around the politics of revisiting the Raj. West was “shocked by the abysmal racism of some characters”. Patel adds: “I understand where that discussion comes from. Paul Rutman, who wrote Indian Summers, has deliberately taken on both sides — the Raj can be something to be proud of or ashamed of. He sidesteps the obvious thing, which is to make the Brits the bad guys and the Indians good.”

Neither actor was taught about that period of history at school. Patel went to the British Library to research his role. “My dad told me he has read more about that time in the build-up to this show than he saw in my school textbooks. It is a weird gap. That time is relevant to now and why this country is the way it is.

“There is a reluctance to look at our heroes in a complex way, and there is shame. Churchill said some racist things about India but it should be possible to celebrate people and say there were problems underneath.”

What’s the appeal of going back in time? “The locations,” says Patel. They spent six months in Malaysia (India was too developed to pass as a convincing 1930s location). In gaps between filming they made friends with the local tailor — who is thrilled that his clothes are now being worn in London — played a card game called May I?, woke up at 4am to catch World Cup games, and ate co-star Aysha Kala’s Sunday roasts.

West says: “Everything seemed different there, until we found Waitrose.” Patel remembers eating Domino’s pizza with cast member Julie Walters. West says Walters was “one of the gang... taking pleasure in it as if it was her first job”.

There was a sunbathing ban to retain authentic aristocratic pallor, and West only broke the rules once. “I was really red afterwards.”

Now Patel is back in Wembley, living with his parents. “There are points where I regress to being a stroppy teenager.” But it means he can save money. “Unless you work super-regularly it is hard to sustain a career in the theatre, and the London property market is nuts.” His parents are pharmacists and, he says: “The one career advice they gave me was don’t be a pharmacist.”

He was always curious about acting but “didn’t have the bottle” to do it. “I didn’t see people that looked like me in school plays.” Eventually he played Othello at Warwick University, where he was studying English. He went on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. “Theatres can be more progressive than cinema in casting. I am currently doing short plays by Tennessee Williams but the fact I’m not white isn’t relevant. It is about playing a fleshed-out human, of which there are hundreds of shades.”

Co-star Julie Walters has spoken up about the lack of working-class actors. “David Morrissey said something interesting — if we don’t have a rich cross- section of people in our cultural space we will stop hearing certain stories. Without sounding too grand, that will affect our humanity as we are seeing an exclusive section of society represented and will lose sight of the ties that bind us.”

Surely this problem isn’t exclusive to the arts? “Exactly. People are being frozen out of the discussion, politically and culturally. I don’t know what the solution is.” Could a Labour government be better? “I hope so. Increasingly it feels like leaders speak to us in sound bites all the time and you can’t cut through it.”

West is also interested in politics. Her parents are from Derbyshire but she grew up in Paris and looks chic Parisian with a monochrome style and neat bob. “The English have more of their private life involved in their job. In France we have had a scandal with our president, but I have no opinion whatsoever on his private life and don’t want to know.”

Her first break was at the age of 10 when her mother took her to audition for Luc Besson’s film Joan of Arc. “I was choice number two, but he gave me a small role. I remember standing in a fake village, realising it was made of polystyrene. I thought, ‘this is crazy, I want to do more’.” She studied history of art at the Sorbonne before committing to acting.

In France she made her name in TV show Maison Close, playing a 19th-century prostitute. “We didn’t realise it was so racy when we were making it, we just thought it was great to be in a show about rich female characters. There were so many sex scenes, but I was only naked once. It’s not easy, especially with a guy you’ve met five minutes ago and he doesn’t speak English or French.”

There are some steamy scenes in Indian Summers too, though everyone had a sense of humour about it.

As they wait for news of a second series, Patel says, “I have a strong suspicion this job will make my life more difficult — I will want every script to have the same depth as Indian Summers.”

@susannahbutter