TV FLASHBACK!
REMEMBERING THE BELOVED TV SHOW, THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY
Revisiting the phenomenon that was The Darling Buds of May
To borrow one of lead character Pop Larkin’s favourite words, English comedy-drama series The Darling Buds of May was “perfick” television.
Set in 1950s rural Kent and based on the 1958 novel of the same name by HE Bates, it followed the fortunes of the lovable Larkin family − Sidney (Pop) and Florence (Ma) and their children Mariette, Montgomery, Primrose, twins Zinnia and Petunia, Victoria and finally Oscar.
Ma is a housewife while Pop, a farmer, supplements their income using various other dubious methods. Life is going swimmingly until a tax collector, Cedric, visits the farm to audit Pop – luckily, he falls in love with Mariette and quits his job to live a rural life.
The series, which ran from 1991 to 1993, brought together a stellar cast, including muchloved comedy actor Sir David Jason as Pop, acclaimed theatre actress Pam Ferris as Ma and stunning newcomer Catherine Zeta-Jones as Mariette.
David was cast first, but wasn’t the first choice. Richard Bates, the author’s nephew who co-produced the show, had Bob Hoskins in mind for Pop. However, executive producer of Darling Buds, Vernon Lawrence, was wary of casting Bob due to his increasingly successful film career. Instead, he settled on David, who had already charmed audiences as the hapless Granville in Open All Hours and the irrepressible Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses.
David was swiftly followed by Pam, who cut her teeth as a stage star at the Mercury Theatre in Auckland, and
Philip Franks as Mariette’s repressed suitor Cedric.
Finding the perfect Mariette, who was described as a blackhaired and olive-skinned beauty in the novel, proved much more difficult. More than 300 actresses were rejected and filming was perilously close to starting before Catherine was spotted in a production of 42nd
Street and given the job.
The first episode broke a British broadcasting record and even beat stalwart soapie Coronation Street on the night. Darling Buds remained wildly popular until the end of its third series. Of the show, Catherine says, “It touched people’s hearts, it was warm nostalgia. There was an innocence to that time − and it proved to be a huge success.”
“We were a phenomenon,” Pam says. “By the second series we couldn’t film for the number of people around. I remember being snuck out of the caravan by a policeman to try and go on set without being mobbed.”
Despite its popularity, all three major stars were grateful that the show only ran for three seasons. “I won’t flog a dead horse,” says David (79). “When scripts for The Darling Buds of May began to dry up we moved on. Everything I’ve done has been a pleasure, touch wood.”
“I’m glad it didn’t go on longer than it did; we ran out of stories, and besides, Catherine would never have met Michael Douglas!” says Pam (70).
The role of Mariette set Catherine (49) on the path to stardom. Once the filming wrapped, she headed to Hollywood to try her luck.
When she was cast in The Mask of Zorro opposite Antonio
Banderas, her superstar status was sealed. Roles in Entrapment, Traffic and America’s Sweethearts
soon followed, and she landed an Oscar for her high-kicking performance as Velma Kelly in Chicago in 2003. And of course, she married Hollywood royalty Michael (74), the father of her two children, Dylan (18) and
Carys (15).
“God knows we’ve had ups and downs in our marriage, but I don’t throw the towel in very quickly on anything,” she laughs. “Not that I would whiteknuckle it until the day he drops dead. Or the day I drop dead; I’m not that stupid either!”
David went on to enjoy incredible success as Detective Inspector Frost in the longrunning series A Touch of Frost.
He only called time on the role when he considered himself too old to keep playing it. “I was asked to make some more and I said, ‘I can’t keep on, because you’ll have me coming on in a wheelchair soon.’” He also became a father for the first time at the age of the age of 60, to a daughter, Sophie, now 18.
As for Pam, she has a number of iconic roles to her name, including the terrifying Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, gardening sleuth Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme and Sister Evangelina in Call the Midwife. She’s been happily married to fellow actor Roger Frost for 33 years and is still so in demand that she remains picky about her roles.
“I’ve had a long run of turning down parts that I would call ‘mother function’. It’s a plot device where the hero character goes home to tell their mum what’s happening, and she receives the news and goes, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ There may be a serious lack of decent parts for women my age, but I would rather do the gardening.”