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Masters' India Saga
Masters' India Saga
Jan 30, 2026 6:32 PM

Author:John Masters,Full Cast,Bill Nighy,Juliet Stevenson,David Collings,Terence Alexander,Michael Cochrane,Nick Hornby,Renu Setna,Saeed Jaffrey

Masters' India Saga

An 18-part serialisation of John Masters' chronicles of the Savage family, spanning the years 1825-1946 and set against the backdrop of British rule in India

Based on the hugely popular novels of John Masters, this landmark BBC Radio adaptation charts the history of the British in India through the perspective of one family over several generations. Ranging over more than 120 years, these thrilling tales of love, murder and espionage take us from the expansion of the East India Company to the last days of the Raj and the approach of Independence.

The Deceivers - 1825. When Company official William Savage witnesses a brutal double murder and uncovers grisly evidence of mass ritual sacrifice, he is drawn into the dark world of the thuggee and their murderous, Kali-worshipping cult. Can he escape with his honour - and his soul - intact? Starring David Collings, Saeed Jaffrey, and Terence Alexander.

Night Runners of Bengal - 1856, and William's son Rodney is an officer in the Bengal Army. His life is one of security and privilege - but a guru's prophecy, and disturbing events surrounding the Rani of Kishanpur, are harbingers of seismic change to come. Across India, the Great Rebellion is rising... Starring Michael Cochrane, Eva Haddon, Carole Boyd and Renu Setna.

The Lotus and the Wind - 1879. Britain and Russia are deadly rivals in the 'Great Game'. At the centre of the conflict is Afghanistan, where soldier-turned-spy Lt Robin Savage is attempting to thwart Russian intelligence. Meanwhile, the woman he loves, Anne Hildreth, witnesses a murder en route to Peshawar... Starring Bill Nighy, Juliet Stevenson, John Rowe.

Bhowani Junction - 1946, and India is heading for self-rule. But when Independence comes, what will happen to Anglo-Indians Patrick Taylor and Victoria Jones? As they search for their true identity amidst Britain's turbulent withdrawal, Colonel Rodney Savage hunts for saboteurs seeking to blow up Bhowani's railway... Starring Gary Bond, Sean Barrett and Shireen Shah.

Text copyright © The Estate of John Masters 1951 (Nightrunners of Bengal), 1952 (The Deceivers), 1953 (The Lotus and the Wind), 1954 (Bhowani Junction)

Cast and credits

Written by John Masters

Music composed by Malcolm Clarke of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

The Deceivers

Dramatised by David Wade.

Directed by Penny Leicester.

Executive producer: Colin Venning

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 September-28 October 1984

Nightrunners of Bengal

Dramatised by Barry Campbell.

Directed by Christopher Venning

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4-25 November 1984

The Lotus and the Wind

Dramatised by David Wade.

Directed by Penny Leicester

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2-23 December 1984

Bhowani Junction

Dramatised by Barry Campbell

Directed by Christopher Venning

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 December 1984-27 January 1985

©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Reviews

Pankaj Mishra transforms a visceral, intimate story of one man's humble origins into a kaleidoscopic portrait of a society bedazzled by power and wealth - what it means on a human level, and what it costs. Run and Hide is a spectacular, illuminating work of fiction

—— Jennifer Egan

In his first novel in more than 20 years, acclaimed essayist Mishra splices a cautionary tale with elegant examination of globalisation and the perils of the changing world order. Immensely thought-provoking

—— Mail on Sunday

The first novel in more than 20 years from the essayist and cultural analyst Pankaj Mishra is as sharp, provocative and engagé as you'd expect... As an exuberant chronicle of a late capitalist world fatally mediated by Twitter and Instagram, Run and Hide might be the most zeitgeisty novel you could read

—— Spectator

A wonderfully rich and enjoyable novel . . . a work for our time and one that will surely be read many years on for what will then be its historical interest . . . a novel built to last

—— Scotsman

A lyrical letter from the new India...a profoundly literary voice, as interested in how to write about a subject as the subject itself

—— Guardian

Terrific . . . elegantly written, incisively observed, and deeply satisfying to read

—— Kamila Shamsie

This powerful novel is a searing examination of our recent cultural and political trajectory, a surprising meditation on the role of the writer in times such as ours, a fragile love story, and an unforgiving look at where we are headed. It is, in other words, a book that demands to be read and rewards reading

—— Mohsin Hamid

The changing forms of his writing, always straining to encompass the chaotic reality Mishra sees around himself, reveal him to be a profoundly literary voice, as interested in how to write about a subject as the subject itself...After the density of his recent books, with their weighty bibliographies, Mishra's fictional prose is permitted, once again, to take lyrical flight

—— Guardian

Pankaj Mishra returns to fiction after two decades with a gripping and remarkable novel - his best work yet. It captures the trajectory of our time through insights and moments that are startling, pure, and have a strange inevitability

—— Amit Chaudhuri

A profound, extraordinarily written, and devastating exploration of the ways the personal is always already the political. Unforgettable

—— Neel Mukherjee

Pankaj Mishra writes with great intelligence and lyrical beauty about the perennial struggle for dignity and stability in a rapidly changing world - and how, in this process, identities are reinvented, reclaimed or renegotiated

—— Laila Lalami

Pankaj Mishra kept us waiting 20 years for a new novel, and it becomes apparent, as soon as you pick up Run and Hide, that time has honed one of our greatest writing talents. The narrative draws you in more keenly than any boxset and the prose shimmers with wisdom. Marvellous

—— Sathnam Sanghera

Run and Hide is achingly irresistible and terrifyingly bracing - like seeing yourself or your world, without illusion, for the first time. It is the coup de literature our demented age needs from one of the finest, bravest writers we have

—— Junot Diaz

I was left hoping I won't have to wait another 20 years for Mishra's next novel

—— i Paper

Run and Hide, is an exciting follow-up to his 1999 debut, The Romantics . . . Mishra brings to bear both the high style of his fiction and the clarity of his criticism for an affecting, world-spanning story about capitalism, art, and globalization

—— Vulture, 49 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022

Run and Hide is savage and tender, and shockingly spiritual. This book may not change your life but it'll entertain the hell out of you

—— Mohammed Hanif

There is tragedy when a spurned and forsaken world turns out to be a paradise in disguise, and when it calls its children home, the children are too unmoored, too compromised to return. That is the monumental, ultra-modern drama Pankaj Mishra unfolds in Run and Hide, a novel of devastating loss and moral collapse worthy of Henry James

—— Joshua Ferris

An intense, probing novel examines rampant materialism and spiritual bankruptcy

—— Kirkus Starred Review

Mishra offers a deeply critical portrait of what he terms the 'IIT generation' of educated Indians who made their fortunes in a rapidly changing India and globalizing world and of the personal and social costs of those changes . . . A vivid, multifaceted study

—— Library Journal

Indian author Pankaj Mishra has dedicated his career to analyzing the psychology of Asia's rising masses, particularly its young men. His latest work, a novel, Run and Hide, is his most searing look at the subject yet

—— The Intercept

A beautifully written novel that captures the complexities and challenges of growing up in India and the simultaneous struggle to find meaning and a way forward in life

—— Booklist

A well-written and engaging tale

—— Publishers Association

There is more than a whiff of The Great Gatsby . . . Mishra's satire recalls Tom Wolfe or Bret Easton Ellis

—— Prospect

Whether writing about a Himalayan village or cosmopolitan London, Pankaj Mishra combines a powerful historical understanding of the contemporary world with psychological insight and a deep feeling for landscape. In Run and Hide, he has created an absolutely new kind of immigrant story-one in which achieving your wildest dreams might mean giving up everything, even once you return home

—— Nell Freudenberger

There is an arresting contrast in style between the political writings on which [Mishra's] reputation is chiefly built and the more introspective mode on display in his memoir and fiction. Those weaned on the gripping velocity and adamantine syntax of Mishra's essays may be surprised by the assiduous lucidity and serene poise of his new novel Run and Hide

—— The New Statesman

Mishra is a masterful eyewitness to the modern world, equally unafraid of nuance, earnestness and absurdity. [Run and Hide] is a slow, careful book about a fast and reckless world. This is not a destination novel; it is a journey novel. One well worth taking

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Mishra has a bit of Balzac in him-for instance, his belief that character reveals itself through surface detail, if that detail is observed ruthlessly enough . . . Run and Hide is a novel of modern India that takes some of the big-picture phenomena from Age of Anger and-as good social novels have always done-gets us to engage on the level of feeling by returning those abstractions to human scale

—— The New York Times Book Review

Mishra is a superb journalist, and the sensory vitality of his second novel is a reminder that fiction is the ultimate information compressor. Unleashed in the realm of human feeling, Mishra's keen observational powers are spectacularly alive

—— Jennifer Egan

Keyes is an exceptional storyteller and her ability to blend comedy, high drama and emotional depth is second to none. Empathetic, insightful, romantic and witty, Again, Rachel is again a delight from start to finish.

—— Daily Express

Again, Rachel is a tour de force. A fearless novel about loving and losing and hoping. It's perfection

—— Gillian McAllister

A brilliant reminder of just how comforting it can be to return to characters that once captured our hearts.

—— Stylist

Set to be one of the biggest books of the year

—— i

Joyful, wise, empathetic, funny, sexy, and so thoughtful on addiction, too

—— Sarah Vaughan

Darkly comic . . . Just as tender, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny as her first outing

—— Best

Again, Rachel is like a six hundred page hug and is Marian Keyes at her hilarious yet heartbreaking best

—— Sarra Manning , Red Magazine

I loved Again, Rachel. Such a beautiful, wise, powerful book

—— Elly Griffiths

Rachel somehow helps us all to find our better, truer selves. I've still got 100 pages to go, but part of me wishes it was 1,000

—— Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, The Week

Keyes is a giant of Irish writing who has not so much defined a genre, as she has created it

—— Natasha Poliszczuk

Perceptive, hilarious and deeply moving, this is a wise and insightful look at modern life

—— Sunday Express

Switch the phone to silent, banish all distractions: it's time for a book binge

—— Saga Magazine

Fabulous. I loved becoming reacquainted with the Walsh family

—— My Weekly Special Series

A masterclass in creating the perfect follow-up story . . . This sequel shone

—— Jane Harper , Daily Express

Included in 'Best Paperbacks of April 2023'

—— THE TIMES

There aren't many books that come along . . . where on one page you can be laughing hysterically, and then you turn the page and you're nearly in tears for the opposite reason. This is that book. Beautifully told. Loads of warmth, loads of humour.

—— Phil Williams , Times Radio

She is a genius stylist. Her characters are so vivid, her situations feel so real and authentic. This is my favourite book of hers.

—— Hannah Beckerman , Times Radio

Amazing

—— Beth O'Leary

Enticing

—— Stylist

There's light and dark in all Keyes' novels, equal measures of hilarity and heartbreak

—— Scotsman

Hard to put down

—— Sunday Express

Lovable, funny. Doesn't disappoint

—— Sunday Life

Keyes at the peak of her powers

—— Scotsman

Praise for Marian Keyes

—— :

Messy, tangled complex humans who reminded me that few of us ever really sort out our lives at all

—— Jojo Moyes

A novel that is warm and witty but never afraid to tackle the big stuff

—— Elizabeth Day , Mail on Sunday

Magnificently messy lives, brilliantly untangled. Funny, tender and completely absorbing!

—— Graham Norton

Keyes knows how to make serious issues relatable - and get a few grownup laughs, too

—— Guardian

There should be a word to describe the sadness and satisfaction you feel when you read the last page of a Marian Keyes novel: the ending is perfect but you still want more, more, more

—— Liane Moriarty

Charming, funny and poignant. But also profound, heartbreaking

—— Nina Stibbe

Keyes at her best: capturing everyday voices with humour and empathy with writing that you'll devour in a weekend. Just pure and simple joy

—— Stylist

Funny, thought-provoking and will get you right in the feels

—— Red

Sensitive, funny, wonderful, immensely touching

—— Nigella Lawson

Marian Keyes's gift for storytelling is utterly magnificent

—— Liz Nugent

Rachel Walsh is back with a bang. Wickedly shrewd and fun

—— RTE Guide, 'Top 10 Fiction of 2022'
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