LARKIN AROUND
Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan make the perfect pairing once again
Bradley Walsh is thrilled to be returning as Pop in the second series of ITV’S muchloved comedy drama – but there are tense times ahead thanks to the couple’s new neighbours.
Set in 50s rural Kent and filmed in and around the village of West Peckham – “Beautiful West Peckham, thank you very much for having us,” says Bradley – The Larkins follows the adventures of Pop and Ma (Joanna Scanlan) and their family, including eldest daughter Mariette (Joelle Rae, taking over the role from Sabrina Bartlett).
At the end of the first series, Pop had bought Bluff Court, but as the second series begins he has sold it at a large profit, and new family, the Jerebohms, have moved in.
“The Jerebohms are townies, completely out of their depth in the countryside,” Bradley explains. “They want to fit in somehow and they want to become – how can I put it? – lords of the manor! So when they
buy shotguns and spend their day shooting clay pigeons/real pigeons/wooden pigeons it drives everyone mad in Littlechurch.”
Cuthbert (Julian Rhind-tutt) and Pinkie (Morgana Robinson) Jerebohm and their two children look set to disrupt the idyllic village that the Larkins call home.
But despite all the drama, Bradley says the series was still fun to film and held a special thrill for him as it gave him a chance to pay tribute to his late grandfather by wearing his hat.
“I requested to wear it because this is my grandfather’s hat, Daniel Walsh,” he says. “It is from just prior to the war, and it was the only thing I kept of my grandfather’s when he passed away. My dad’s no longer alive, either, so when I told my uncle – my dad’s brother – that I was wearing his dad’s hat on the telly on The Larkins, he was thrilled.”
Like Bradley, Joanna was very happy to be back filming in Kent. “I just loved every minute being there,” she says.
“I think the audience is going to get quite a good story this year,” she adds. “There’s a wonderful romance – and there is a very alarming set of jeopardies, too!”