Portrait of a woman ahead of her time
my heart skipped a beat. I was about a quarter of the way through reading it to my children when The Durrells came up and I was genuinely thrilled.”
Shedding light on her character, she notes, “Louise Dixie Durrell is slightly different from the woman we know from the Gerald Durrell books. Because the books are told from a child’s point of view and the stories about his mother are of this perfect woman. There’s no mention of any money worries or troubles. She’s the perfect mother. He’s the baby of the family and she lets him get away with everything.
“One of the things I really like about this TV version is Louisa is a woman struggling.
“She’s been on her own for eight years since her husband died, bringing up three teenagers and a little boy on her own. And she does something so brave and amazing to move from Bournemouth to Corfu.
“Back in 1935 Louisa took four children to Corfu. A single mother taking four children to a foreign country, to a Greek island with a different language, no electricity, no telephone, no quick budget flight back home, is just a complete change of life.
“To lift them all up and say, ‘Right, I’m going to give you a better life than the one we have now and this is what we are going to do’. That is such a brave, forwardthinking, modern thing for a woman on her own to do.”
And, the actress continues: “It really does feel like we have been a real family forever with Larry (Josh O’Connor), Leslie (Callum Woodhouse), Margo (Daisy Waterstone) and Gerry (Milo Parker). They’re all completely different and all so well cast.”
The Durrells is one of those heartwarming dramas, laden with a few tearjerk moments and a bit of romance. It is entertaining and inspiring and boasts the most picture-perfect setting.
The Durrells
airs on BBC First (DStv Channel 119) on Sundays at 8pm.