A boisterous if slightly superfluous refit of the HE Bates-inspired, 50s-set primetime banker. Bradley Walsh brings a cockney twang to self-styled “gentleman farmer” Pop Larkin while Joanna Scanlan is a suitably no-nonsense Ma. Tonight’s opener starts as it means to go on: beer drunk heartily from tankards; endless sunshine; and Pop cheerfully at war with his stuffy nemesis, Alec Norman.
In 1991, ITV had huge success with the first series of The Darling Buds of May, an adaptation of the 1958 H.E. Bates novel which it expanded into further books and two further series. Set in 1950s rural Kent and following the life of the Larkins, the original series starred Sir David Jason and Pam Ferris, and launched then unknown Catherine Zeta-Jones to stardom.
Now the channel is hoping to replicate that success again with a reboot of the popular series, this time called The Larkins, and adapted by Simon Nye (The Durrells, Finding Alice).
Full series available to stream at HERE