The partition of India | A Timewatch Guide

Duration: 4'23''

Synopsis

David Olusoga investigates how the partition of India has been represented in film and television.

Further Information

More clips from A Timewatch Guide

Anglo-Zulu War | A Timewatch Guide

Anglo-Zulu War | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 4'37''

David Olusoga discusses the events of the Anglo-Zulu war and how it has been depicted in film.

Cecil Rhodes | A Timewatch Guide

Cecil Rhodes | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 6'26''

David Olusoga examines not whether the British Empire was a force for good or ill, but rather how it has been portrayed on British television.

Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 3'22''

David Olusoga discusses controversial argument in favour of British colonial rule in India...

Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide

Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 2'55''

David Olusoga explores the immigration of people from the empire to Britain.

Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide

Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 3'35''

David Olusoga explains how perceptions of empire have shifted throughout different generations.

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 5'58''

David Olusoga explains how historical perspectives of the British Empire have shifted through time.

More resources about Empire and colonies

First English traders in West Africa | Black and British: A Forgotten History

First English traders in West Africa | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 5'41''

David Olusoga investigates the first English traders in West Africa.

Jamestown colony | Empire with David Olusoga

Jamestown colony | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 8'42''

In Jamestown, David looks at evidence of the first English colonies in the Americas and their tobacco plantations.

4: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

4: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

Channel 4 | 2003 | 49'08''

In this programme we discover how a few thousand British people ruled over India, a country of more than 250 mi...

Lancashire cotton famine | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Lancashire cotton famine | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 5'38''

David Olusoga explains how the American civil war caused a cotton famine in Lancashire.

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 5'58''

David Olusoga explains how historical perspectives of the British Empire have shifted through time.

Slave plantation system | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

Slave plantation system | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 4'09''

David Olusoga discusses the slave plantation system in the Caribbean.

Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 9'41''

David explains how Britian sent their problem convicts abroad to the colonies for cheap labour, and many ...

01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World

BBC Two | 2010 | 59'33''

Dan Snow charts the role the Royal Navy played in Britain's development. How victory over the Arm...

5: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

5: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

Channel 4 | 2003 | 49'28''

The 'scramble for Africa' by competing European nations during the last years of Queen Victoria's reign is the com...

Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 59'21''

In 1834 Britain abolished slavery, a defining and celebrated moment in our national history. What has been largely forgotten is that aboliti...

Bunce Island | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Bunce Island | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 4'59''

David Olusoga visits Bunce Island, where the first slave fortress was built in the 17th century.

Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 3'22''

David Olusoga discusses controversial argument in favour of British colonial rule in India...

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'35''

David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...

Granville Sharp | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Granville Sharp | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 3'10''

David Olusoga discusses Granville Sharpe and Jonathan Strong's roles in the abolition of slavery.

Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide

Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 2'55''

David Olusoga explores the immigration of people from the empire to Britain.

John Blanke | Black and British: A Forgotten History

John Blanke | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 5'12''

David Olusoga discusses Catherine of Aragon's black servants.

Morant Bay Rebellion | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Morant Bay Rebellion | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 4'38''

David Olusoga discusses the legacy of the slave trade in Jamaica in the decades after abolition.

S3E3: The Empire of Good Intentions | A History of Britain by Simon Schama

S3E3: The Empire of Good Intentions | A History of Britain by Simon Schama

BBC Two | 2002 | 59'10''

How the liberal politics and free-market economics of the British Empire unravelled, leading to th...

The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 3'23''

David Olusoga investigates the beginnings of the British slave trade in Barbados.

The Father of Australia

The Father of Australia

BBC Two | 2011 | 1'10'49''

Drama-documentary starring Clive Russell as Lachlan Macquarie, governor of the British penal colony that would eventually become Australia.

More from David Olusoga

Number 10 Guinea Street in Bristol | A House Through Time

Number 10 Guinea Street in Bristol | A House Through Time

BBC Two | 2020 | 5'22''

David Olusoga begins his investigation into the history of number 10 Guinea street in Bristol.

4: Union and Disunion | Union with David Olusoga

4: Union and Disunion | Union with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2023 | 59'33''

The 20th century sees partition in Ireland. A sense of national unity emerges in the aftermath of the Second World War, but ...

Ring Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer

Ring Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer

BBC Four | 2021 | 3'44''

In the late 1960s, William Foege was running out of smallpox vaccine in Niger...

The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files

The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files

BBC Two | 2019 | 58'55''

How black immigrants who made Britain their home came face to face with the government's 'hostile environment'. David Olusoga exposes...

6: First Contact | Civilisations

6: First Contact | Civilisations

BBC Two | 2018 | 59'07''

David Olusoga shows how art was always on the frontline when distant cultures met.

Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide

Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2017 | 3'35''

David Olusoga explains how perceptions of empire have shifted throughout different generations.

Slave Codes | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Slave Codes | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 3'43''

David Olusoga discusses the slave codes that stripped black people of all their rights.

The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 3'23''

David Olusoga investigates the beginnings of the British slave trade in Barbados.

1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'04''

David Olusoga challenges our perceptions of the First World War with the stories of the millions of Indian, ...