The Durrells is a six-part ITV drama television series based on Gerald Durrell's three autobiographical books about his family's four years on Corfu 1935-1939, which began airing on 3 April 2016. The series is written by Simon Nye, directed by Steve Barron and Roger Goldby, produced by Christopher Hall and Executive Production is by Lee Morris and Sally Woodward Gentle.
The series begins in
1935, when Louisa Durrell suddenly announces that she and her four
children will move from Bournemouth to the Greek island of Corfu. Her
husband has died some years earlier and the family is experiencing
financial problems. A Homeric battle ensues as the family adapts to
life on the island which, despite a lack of electricity, is cheap and
an earthly paradise.
The Durrells proves a rollicking delight for ITV
Series
based on Gerald Durrell’s Corfu trilogy meets need for hit Sunday
night drama to fill void left by Downton Abbey
Jane Martinson and
John Plunkett
Friday 29 April 2016
17.50 BST
The old adage of
never working with children and animals is being tested by ITV with
its main Sunday night drama. But The Durrells, a fun mix of gorgeous
locations, four badly behaved kidults and an odd menagerie of
animals, is proving a success for the broadcaster which has been
searching for a Sunday night hit since Downton Abbey came to an end
in December.
Based on Gerald
Durrell’s Corfu trilogy, the drama starring Keeley Hawes as the
whimsical widow fleeing a prewar Britain for the sunny Mediterranean
is attracting an average audience of 5.9 million viewers on a Sunday
night, nearly 2 million more than the channel’s average.
The series has also
been a boon for sales of the the naturalist’s books. Waterstones
said sales of My Family and Other Animals, the first of the Corfu
trilogy, had more than tripled, while sales of the trilogy had
increased eight-fold.
Publisher Penguin
Random House said it had seen an “incredible uplift” across all
three editions of My Family and Other Animals.
“In our
experience, successful book adaptations for TV and cinema often lead
to a renewed interest in the original book,” said Richard
Humphreys, Waterstones’ non-fiction buyer. “It is an amazing
result and a testament to the brilliance and longevity of Durrell’s
writing.”
Shown in a
pre-watershed slot of 8pm, the combination of romance and rollicking
children has won over entire families. The Durrells is the highest
rated new drama series on ITV since Cilla in 2014 and was
recommissioned after just two episodes.
Sally Woodward
Gentle, the executive producer, said the idea of turning Durrell’s
three books into a long-running series came about because of the
commercial broadcaster’s demand for a family-friendly hit on the
biggest night of the week.
“We wanted
sunshine and escapism, and not anything too slight or sweet or
patronising,” she said. “We don’t want to be too sickly sweet
about it. Anything that feels a bit cute we will try to undercut it.
At the same time, it has to be something that’s incredibly
pleasurable and a joy to watch.”
The appeal was
ageless, she said, because the show contained “quite naughty
children who are allowed to run wild and lots of animals. For the
adults, the wit and characters are amazing”.
Conceived as a
long-running series, minor characters such as Sven and the part-time
prisoner Costi are made much larger while the central character of
Louise is given a possibly more modern spin. “She’s a single
parent, feisty and bolshie, and does this extremely brave thing by
taking the children off to Corfu,” said Woodward Gentle.
There have been
comparisons to the the Larkin family in the early 1990s hit Darling
Buds of May, which Woodward Gentle welcomes. “I loved it,” she
said. “It was slightly naughty and all about how lush nature is.”
Critics, often less
enamoured of ITV drama than they are of BBC adaptations, have been
generally positive, although there was also criticism of a plot twist
dubbed the “gay switch scandal”.
Sven, who is gay in
the book, becomes Louisa’s main love interest on ITV, prompting
charges of “straightwashing”.
ITV would not be
drawn on how the storyline between the two plays out, with the
penultimate of six episodes to be broadcast this Sunday.
Woodward Gentle said
the show was very loosely based on the original books, and Durrell’s
widow, Lee, had been very supportive.
Neither the original
memoirs nor the writings of Durrell’s older brother about the
family’s time on Corfu was entirely accurate, Woodward Gentle
said.. “Gerald and Lawrence Durrell didn’t tell the truth either
… They didn’t let truth stand in the way of a good story.”
Written by Simon
Nye, whose credits include Men Behaving Badly, the series hopes to
stay true to the humour of the books.
They covered a
four-year period before the onset of the second world war made the
real-life Durrells return to the UK. With filming of the next series
set to start this summer for the next series, Woodward Gentle said
she would “love it to go on and on”.
Ratings war
The Durrells has
helped to loosen the BBC’s grip on early Sunday evening viewing,
which is traditionally dominated by Countryfile at 7pm, followed an
hour later by Antiques Roadshow, both on BBC1.
Last Sunday, The
Durrells had 5.5 million viewers from 8pm, just ahead of Antiques
Roadshow with 5.3 million.
ITV’s previous
attempts to find a hit pre-watershed drama on Sunday sank without
trace. Jekyll and Hyde last year and Beowulf earlier this year were
both dropped after ratings fell to 2 million viewers.
Among the other big
Sunday night dramas, BBC1’s Undercover, with an overnight audience
of 4 million viewers at 9pm, has not managed to repeat the success of
The Night Manager, which gripped more than 6 million people in the
same slot. But neither were in the league of the biggest Sunday night
drama hit, BBC1’s Call The Midwife, which at its peak was watched
by 10 million viewers.
Channel 4’s Indian
Summers has been a casualty of the fierce Sunday night ratings war,
with the drama about the birth of modern India axed after two series
after its audience fell as low as 1 million.
Keeley Hawes as
Louisa Durrell
Milo Parker as Gerry
Durrell
Josh O'Connor as
Larry Durrell
Daisy Waterstone as
Margo Durrell
Callum Woodhouse as
Leslie Durrell
Yorgos Karamihos as
Dr. Theo Stephanides
Alexis Georgoulis as
Spiros Hakaiopolous
James Cosmo as
Captain Creech
Maximilian Befort as
Max
Manolis Emmanouel as
Sotos
Andrew Bicknell as
Headmaster
Anna Savva as
Lugaretza
Graham Seed as Mr
Trevitt
Liz Watts as Nancy
Ben Hall as Donald
Hara-Joy Ermidi as
Alexia
Yorgos Tryfonas as
Market Trader
Nick Orestis
Chaniotakis as Monk
Arsenis Grimmas as
Guest House Manager
Spiros Kasfikis as
Durrell's House Owner
Ulric von der Esch
as Sven
Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter. He founded what are now called the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959, but is perhaps best remembered for writing a number of books based on his life as an animal collector and enthusiast. He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell.
Durrell was born in
Jamshedpur, India on 7 January 1925. He was the fourth surviving and
final child of Louisa Florence Dixie and Lawrence Samuel Durrell,
both of whom were born in India of English and Irish descent.
Durrell's father was a British engineer and, as was commonplace and
befitting family status, the infant Durrell spent most of his time in
the company of an ayah (nursemaid). Durrell reportedly recalled his
first visit to a zoo in India and attributed his lifelong love of
animals to that encounter.
The family moved to
Britain after the death of his father in 1928 and settled in the
Upper Norwood-Crystal Palace area of South London. Durrell was
enrolled in Wickwood School, but frequently stayed at home feigning
illness.
Mrs Durrell moved
with her four younger children (Lawrence, Leslie, Margaret, nicknamed
Margo, and Gerald) to the Greek island of Corfu in 1935. It was on
Corfu where Durrell began to collect and keep the local fauna as his
pets.
The family lived on
Corfu until 1939. This interval was later the basis of the book My
Family and Other Animals and its successors, Birds, Beasts, and
Relatives and The Garden of the Gods, plus a few short stories like
"My Donkey Sally". Durrell was home-schooled during this
time by various family friends and private tutors, mostly friends of
his eldest brother Lawrence (later a successful novelist).
Theodore
Stephanides, Greek doctor, scientist, poet and philosopher and a
friend of one of Durrell's tutors, became Durrell's greatest friend
and mentor, and his ideas left a lasting impression on the young
naturalist. Together, they examined Corfu fauna, which Durrell housed
in everything from test tubes to bathtubs. Another major influence
during these formative years, according to Durrell, was the writing
of French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre.
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