A Passage to Britain – BBC2

A Passage to Britain BBC2
(Image credit: BBC/Wall to Wall/Tom Hayward)

The stories of passengers coming to Britain from Bombay in the late 1940s following Independence, including Anglo-Indians, Sikh and Polish families

In the second of this three-part series, historian Dr Yasmin Khan continues searching for passengers and their descendants who travelled to Britain from India.

Her ship this time is the SS Asturias.

It was one of the first ships to leave Bombay after the Empire collapsed.

India was thrown into a violent and chaotic time as Partition – the separation of the old Empire into India and Pakistan – took place in 1947.

Yasmin traces some of the families who were fleeing at that time, terrified of what a future in India without British rule would be like.

A Passage to Britain BBC2

Part two looks at the families who travelled to Britain from Bombay in the 1940s

In particular, watch out for the last story about a Polish lady called Ella.

She made the most remarkable journey from Siberia, then to India and finally on to Britain.

TV Times rating: *****