The Darling Buds of May (TV series)

The square oast house of Buss Farm, featured in the opening credits, seen in 2007

The Larkin family lives on a farm in rural England, in the county of Kent. Sidney ("Pop") and his common law wife Florence ("Ma") have six children, eldest daughter Mariette, followed by their only son Montgomery, and other daughters Primrose, twins Zinnia and Petunia, and Victoria. Ma is a housewife while Pop supplements his farm income with various other not entirely legitimate enterprises. Tax collector Cedric ("Charley") visits to audit Pop, but falls in love with Mariette and quits his job to live the rural life. As Ma and Pop raise their other children, Charley attempts to provide for his now wife Mariette. Ma and Pop soon have a seventh child, Oscar, followed around a year later by Charley and Mariette's first baby, John Blenheim.

Pop and Ma's relationship is depicted as loving and affectionate throughout, although Pop is flirtatious and subject to numerous advances, most of which Ma is aware of and evidently unconcerned by. Proud of all his children, Pop's schemes evidently provide well for the family, enough to fund boarding school for the twins, naval boarding school for Monty, a swimming pool, a fairground, and a holiday to France, although he is just as motivated by doing good and helping others as making a profit. Ma occasionally becomes involved in Pop's schemes, or creates a scheme of her own. Possessing some very close friends, their lifestyle, in particular the fact they have never been married, nonetheless raises eyebrows in the stuffy environs of the local village.

Mariette and Charley's relationship is more torrid, in part due to his insecurity over her attractiveness, and his varying success in providing financially, with their newly acquired hop garden struggling. Mariette's business skills eventually come to bear as they purchase a local brewery. Primrose is depicted as a frustrated romantic, moving to France to live with a boy her own age and attempting to seduce both Charley and the village minister upon her return. Monty meanwhile contends with bullying, both at home and at naval boarding school. The increasingly mischievous twins gradually grow apart from their younger sibling Victoria, who delights in teasing and embarrassing all her siblings, especially Primrose.

All the episodes are seemingly set during 1958–59 despite the timespan of events across all three series making this a logical impossibility. The first serial is based on the first book, written and set in 1958, during which Florence finds out she is pregnant. In the second serial ("When the green woods laugh") Sidney is accused of committing indecent assault on 23 August 1958. The trial takes place on 7 July, the same day as Charley and Mariette's wedding; this would seem to be a continuity error because it cannot be July of the following year as Florence's baby had not yet been born. By the time of the third serial ("A breath of French air") Florence has already given birth to Oscar and the Larkins have a late-August holiday in Brittany, during which Charley and Mariette celebrate their first wedding anniversary. The fourth serial ("Christmas is coming") is set at Christmas and it is established Mariette is five months pregnant; she gives birth in the fifth serial ("Oh! to be in England!"), which would be some time in the spring of 1960 at the earliest according to the dating of the first series and the chronology of events up to that point. However, in the sixth serial ("Stranger at the gates") the twins celebrate their birthday, which a close-up of a wall calendar reveals to be 15 August 1959.

In the eighth serial ("Le Grand Weekend") the Larkins' weekend getaway coincides with Charles de Gaulle's state visit, which would date the events of the episode to April 1960 if it does indeed coincide with the real-life visit. Primrose's birthday was revealed to be in May in "Stranger at the gates" and she celebrates it in the ninth serial "The happiest days of your life", dating the events either to May 1960 (using the retconned second series date) or 1961 (going by the date given in the first series). By the eleventh serial ("Climb the greasy pole"), when the children are older and the babies have grown to toddlerhood, another close-up of a calendar reveals the month to be October 1959. At the end of the final episode, Sidney is elected to the Rural District Council on 5 November 1959 (Guy Fawkes Night).

Locally produced food and drink intentionally played a core role in the series.[1] Due to not being ripe at the right time, the strawberries used in the series were imported from Holland.[3] One of the most iconic scenes features Pop and Ma eating a meal together whilst having a bath.[3] With several scenes featuring eating, the fact Ferris was a vegetarian had to be worked around by the production staff.[3] Both Ferris and Jason gained weight due to the amount of food they had to consume, often doing multiple takes for several scenes at one time, to make the scenes look realistic.[2]

Another theme of the series was the Larkin family's habit of giving their children unusual or themed first and middle names. Mariette was created by combining 'Marie' and 'Antoinette'. Montgomery was named after wartime officer Field Marshall Montgomery. Victoria was named for being born during the plum season (Victoria plum). While Monty and Victoria have no middle names, the other children have several: Primrose Violet Anemone Iris Magnolia Narcissa, twins Petunia June Florence Nightingale and Zinnia June Florence Nightingale, and Oscar Columbus Septimus Dupont, the last one being in tribute to the French hotelier Madamoiselle Dupont, who features in the series. Mariette's wedding ceremony in series one reveals her middle name to be Jane. Mariette and Charlie continue the family penchant for elaborate naming by christening their son John Marlborough Churchill Blenheim.

The series was a ratings success,[17] its "feel-good" factor during economic recession often noted as the reason. Whilst Yorkshire TV classified it as a drama, audiences and critics have generally considered it to be a comedy/drama.

The first episode broke a British broadcasting record, becoming the first instance of a new series topping the national ratings, beating the soap opera Coronation Street (also an ITV production) on the night. This came as a shock to producers, although they had been hopeful of good ratings due to dull weather and the belief that people would be looking for something to lift their spirits following the end of the Gulf War.[1]

Jason attributed the series' popularity to the public wanting a more wholesome, inclusive and inoffensive viewing option at a time when violence on television was increasing. This was one of the main reasons he decided to take the role.[2]

The series generated an upsurge in sales of H. E. Bates's novels.[2]

The Larkin family truck, seen at the Darling Buds Classic Car Show at Buss Farm in 2007

The series is based on the works of H. E. Bates, who died in 1974. Having moved from the industrialised English Midlands to a granary in Little Chart in Kent in 1930 in search of new inspirations for his work, he was initially frustrated in his efforts to create a novel based on the Kent way of life. His inspiration for the Larkin stories eventually came in 1955 while on a trip to Sittingbourne. Pausing at Faversham, he observed the joyful camaraderie of a large boisterous family as they emerged from a shop and departed in a large blue truck. Combining this with observations of another family on a nearby small-holding, he set about writing about how these families might live. Originally a short story, he expanded it into a novel, followed by a further four books, the titles of the first four of which were used as episode titles for the TV series:[1]

• The Darling Buds of May (1958)
• A Breath of French Air (1959)
• When the Green Woods Laugh (1960)
• Oh! To be in England! (1963)
• A Little of What You Fancy? (1970)

The first novel in the series was originally adapted to the screen in 1959 as The Mating Game, starring Debbie Reynolds and Tony Randall as Mariette and Charley.

The fifth novel, A Little of What You Fancy?, was never adapted for television, but it was adapted into a six-part series by Eric Pringle for BBC Radio, with Jason and Ferris reprising their roles, first airing in February 1996.[19][20]

In May 2011 a stage production of the series was put on at Buss Farm.[7]

• The Darling Buds of May at IMDb
• Darling Buds Farm – Kent farm location used for the TV series.
• Darling Buds Cookery Courses – cookery course at the Kent farm location used for the TV series.