The nation’s new Darlings

Meet the all-new Larkin family as The Darling Buds Of May returns to our screens... Perfick!

Take the ultimate escape to the country: a joyous trip back in time to carefree English village life of the 1950s in rural Kent as H.E. Bates’s charming adventures of the Larkins return to the screen in a new adaptation.

Back in the 1990s, record audiences were enthralled by The Darling Buds Of May (the title of Bates’s first Larkins novel), starring David Jason as Pop Larkin and Pam Ferris as Ma, while, playing their eldest daughter Mariette, Catherine Zeta-Jones started out on the stellar career path that would lead her to Hollywood A-list status.

Now the captivating saga is recreated to delight a new generation of viewers, with the ever-dependable Bradley Walsh (Doctor Who) as the father of the Larkin household, an enterprising if roguish junk-yard dealer and self-styled gentleman farmer who’s blessed with an irrepressibly perky sense of optimism. By his side is Ma (No Offence’s Joanna Scanlan, above right with Walsh), who always has a ready smile and provides a never-ending feast of mouthwatering food for her large clan – but woe betide anyone foolish enough to get on the wrong side of the redoubtable matriarch.

Yet all eyes will surely be on Sabrina Bartlett (Bridgerton), the fresh-faced star following in Zeta-Jones’s footsteps to take centre stage as the coquettish Mariette, who is always dressed in the height of period fashion and somehow can’t help but capture the hearts of the young lads around her.

As the six-part series begins, there are two men in the village who seem particularly ready to succumb to Mariette’s charms. But will she fall for arrogant, if undeniably handsome, newcomer Tom, or shy, staid tax inspector Charley (Tok Stephen)?

Adding to the rich stew of comedy and entertainment is a memorable gallery of characters alongside the Larkins, among them the vicar (veteran star Peter Davison) – a man of the cloth with a surprisingly wicked touch of mischief – and the shockingly snobbish Alec Norman (Tony Gardner, Last Tango In Halifax), who seems destined always to come unstuck in his plans when he attempts to take on Pop.

Scriptwriter Simon Nye has already pulled off the nifty trick of successfully updating beloved 20th Century classics for today’s family audiences in his previous Sunday night ITV hit The Durrells. Now he and a winning cast together give us another bright, colourful comedy drama for which there can be only one verdict for anyone looking to get away from it all with an hour of satisfying comfort viewing: to quote Pop Larkin – ‘perfick’.