Episode 2 'Raga' depicts far-right agitators stirring anti-immigration sentiment ahead of the general election, racially motivated gang violence, and tensions around an Indian restaurant family of Bengali heritage, portrayed through authentic 1970s Oxford clashes without modern activist framing. Episodes 1 and 3 incorporate sexism in academia, a women's liberation meeting featuring dialogue on 'patriarchal hegemony,' male chauvinism in a science lab, and an all-women's college resisting co-education at Lady Matilda's, reflecting real single-sex Oxford colleges of the era. Creator Shaun Evans confirmed the intentional inclusion of women's lib and immigration themes as reflections of contemporary issues like #MeToo, executed with a deliberate 'lightness of touch' that keeps core mysteries and relationships as the narrative drivers.

No race or gender swaps of source characters occur, and new diverse supporting roles remain organic rather than forced. Audience reception shows no evidence of backlash labeling the season 'woke,' confirming that identity politics stay peripheral to the established canon and period-accurate academic settings in 'Oracle' and 'Zenana.'