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Kavita Puri hears stories of the pioneering migrants from the Indian subcontinent and their children. She hears how the politics of 1980s Britain was shaping not only the ‘three pound’ generation of early migrants but also their children.

It was a period during which there was the largest intake yet of MPs – all Labour - from ethnic minority backgrounds. Under Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, the Conservatives began to court the South Asian vote. We meet the first female British South Asian to be chosen as a parliamentary candidate for the Tories.

By the mid-1980s, many of the 'three pound generation' had been in Britain for longer than they had lived on the Indian subcontinent. They and their children were becoming ever more ingrained into British life, part of its fabric. And as the decade drew to an end, we see how dramatic events would lead to the South Asian community fragmenting.

Presenter: Kavita Puri
Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Hugh Levinson

Historical consultants:
Dr Florian Stadtler, Exeter University
Dr Edward Anderson, Cambridge University