8.4 /10 2 Votes
Genre Drama No. of series 1 First episode date 3 April 2016 Written by Simon Nye | 7.8/10 IMDb Theme music composer Ruth Barrett No. of episodes 6 Network ITV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Based on The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell Cinematography Julian Court, James Aspinall Adapted from Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, The Garden of the Gods Executive producers Sally Woodward Gentle, Simon Nye, Lee Morris Similar Masterpiece, Indian Summers, Line of Duty, Victoria, Home Fires | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
White house kalami corfu durrell s house
The Durrells (also known as The Durrells in Corfu) is an ITV drama miniseries 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, and produced by Christopher Hall. The executive producers are Lee Morris and Sally Woodward Gentle.
Contents
The durrells in corfu episode 1 scene pbs
Story
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.
Main characters
Main
Recurring
Series 1 (2016)
(1935)
Series 2 (2017)
(1936)
A second series was confirmed to air in 2017 by ITV on 15 April 2016 with filming to commence in late August; both in Corfu and London. The series will last an additional six episodes and plot-lines include: Larry balancing his flourishing writing career against a new romance, Leslie embarking upon entrepreneurship, Margo falling for an unsuitable boy, Gerry finding an otter residing close to his home, and Louisa being sought after by an Englishman, Hugh Jarvis (Daniel Lapaine).
Further plot points centre on the family struggling economically, with a new landlady, Vasiliki (Errika Bigio), obsessing over on-time rent payments and seemingly bearing a grudge towards Louisa expanding beyond that. A solution to the former turns up, as the family open a market stall with Theo teaching Leslie bee-keeping skills, and Margo, Gerry and Spiros on as farmhands.
Returning roles include Leslie Caron as Countess Mavrodaki, Ulric Von Der Esch as Sven, Anna Savva as Lugaretzia, Lucy Black as Florence Petrides and Alexis Conran as Dr Petrides. Steve Barron and Ed Hall are to direct the second series.
Reception
Reception to the first episode was positive, with Gerard O'Donovan (The Telegraph) calling it "a series that's not only sun-drenched and liberating, but also catches its source material's high good humour without labouring it and weaves an authentic sense of the innocent exoticism of the original," before awarding it four stars. The Daily Mail's Christoper Stevens bestowed even more praise, giving it five stars and focusing on the cast's performance, naming Keeley Hawes "magnificent as the indomitable, gin-sozzled widow Louisa Durrell" and Milo Parker's performance as Gerry "excellent", before commenting on the show's "cascade of Carry On humour."
The opening episode averaged just under 6.4 million people and was watched by 29% of the audience over the hour, including those watching on ITV's +1 channel, and was the biggest drama launch of any channel so far in 2016 and the most-watched show of the day (including +1). Following a seven-day catch-up period, the figure aggregated to just under 8.2 million people. Citing the show being "ITV's best rating new drama of the year and its highest rating new show since September 2014", ITV recommissioned the show for a second series on 15 April 2016. Over the course of the first series, ratings averaged out at 6.9 million viewers.
The show and its episodes attained high ratings on IMDb, around 8/10.
Broadcast
Internationally, the series was acquired in Australia by the Seven Network and premiered on 24 August 2016. In the United States, PBS began airing the show, retitled as The Durrells in Corfu, on 16 October 2016 at 8pm. The Durrells started screening in New Zealand on 26 October 2016 on Prime TV.