The Darling Buds of May
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| The Darling Buds of May | |
|---|---|
 Video cover |
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| Genre | Drama/Comedy |
| Starring | David Jason, Pam Ferris, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Philip Franks |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Yorkshire Television (ITV Productions) |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including adverts) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 1991 – 1993 |
The Darling Buds of May was a British television series which was first broadcast between 1991 and 1993 produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV Network. It is set in an idyllic rural 1950s Kent, among a large, boisterous family. The three series were based on the novels by H. E. Bates. Originally categorised by Yorkshire TV as a drama, some regard it as a comedy.
The key characters were Pop Larkin (David Jason), Ma Larkin (Pam Ferris), their eldest daughter Mariette (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and tax-collector Cedric "Charley" Charlton (Philip Franks). Charley arrives at the beginning of the first episode to get Pop Larkin to fill in his tax forms, is seduced by the country life, and never leaves.
The show was very popular, and launched the acting career of Catherine Zeta-Jones.
"The darling buds of May" is a quotation from Shakespeare's sonnet XVIII: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May | And summer's lease hath much too short a date.
The programme was filmed in the village of Pluckley, Kent and several nearby locations. The actual farm used in the series is a private residence and not normally open to the public but can be visited once a year on the occasion of the Darling Buds Classic Car Show, [1] an annual charitable event held in the farm grounds with the kind permission of the owner. No filming was done inside the farmhouse, the interiors having been shot in a studio, but devotees of the series are free on that day to see all the external locations used around the farm in the programme.
The compete 3 series, plus special episodes, have been released on DVD and remain widely available.
[edit] See also
- List of titles of works based on Shakespearean phrases
- David Giles, director of several episodes in this series
[edit] External links
- The Darling Buds of May at the Internet Movie Database
- Episode guide from Memorable Television
- British TV Comedy entry
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