Victoria's Empire

India / Hong Kong / Borneo (1x1)

Air date: Apr 29, 2007

Victoria Wood visits countries that used to be part of Queen Victoria's British Empire. In Calcutta she takes a taxi through the city to see the extent of the British residue and discovers very well preserved Victorian buildings amongst the colours and textures of this marvellous city. She chats with Indian resident Toby Sinclair and discovers the intriguing way we learned local languages, and the legacy that will allow India to become an economic super power. Then it’s up to Darjeeling, where British women would avoid the intensity of the Calcutta summers, and where taking tea wasn’t the only diversion in the long, often lonely, summer nights. In Hong Kong, Victoria visits a vet to discuss the Chinese and British polar attitudes towards pets and gets her love life analysed by a fortune teller, before in Borneo, Victoria comes face to face with the descendent of a chief head hunter, a local solidified bird spit delicacy and a baby Orangutan’s first attempts at climbing. Credits: