MOVE OVER Darlings

How will Pop and Ma cope with their newlywed daughter and their rude new neighbours in the series based on The Darling Buds Of May?

THE LARKINS Sunday, ITV, 8pm

Escape from it all to a carefree world of gingham tablecloths, floral cardigans, men in hats and stately homes going for the princely sum of £19,000 – or 17 grand if you can pay in cash. Yes, ITV’s delightfully entertaining adaptation of The Darling Buds Of May novels by H.E. Bates is back.

While many viewers will retain cherished memories of the 1990s version, the newer show is now firmly established as it returns for a second series, thanks to the brilliant casting of Bradley Walsh as Pop Larkin and Jo Scanlan as Ma (both far right, above), together presiding over their happy brood in the lovely Kent countryside.

The year is now 1959, and change is afoot in the village. Among the newcomers are the well-heeled but arrogant and outrageously rude Mr Jerebohm (Julian RhindTutt) and his wife Pinkie (Morgana Robinson).

After buying a crumbling mansion from Pop for £17,000 and moving in with their two children, the plummy-voiced couple look down their noses at their new neighbours.

Almost immediately, the clock is ticking for the terrible toffs to get their deserved comeuppance at the hands of the Larkins. Meanwhile, the hardsmoking and drinking vicar (Peter Davison) must reluctantly accept the arrival of a young new assistant, the Rev

Candy (Maxim Ays) – a handsome slice of clerical beefcake who inspires a newfound interest in spiritual matters for the Larkins’ bookworm teenage daughter Primrose (Lydia Page). And look out for one big change: Joelle Rae (left) replaces Sabrina Bartlett as the Larkins’ eldest daughter Mariette – the role that launched the career of Catherine ZetaJones in the 1990s.

Thanks to writer Simon

Nye’s smartly crafted script, the story is generously peppered with laughs as we cheer on the Larkins and their friends and boo their foes. Walsh’s Pop is all cheeky charm and good-hearted, but never one to lose sight of a sharp deal, and he does have a certain plain-speaking but effective way with words: ‘We love animals and take care of ’em – and then eat ’em.’

Generous, wise Ma is very much the better half who keeps a cooler head than her mischievous and sometimes hot-headed husband.

Feast on pure pleasure, not least the wryly comic dialogue, such as when Primrose tells Ma ‘There is a poet called Philip Larkin’, prompting the question: ‘Any relation?’ The daughter simply replies: ‘He doesn’t remind me of Pop. Let’s put it that way.’