A PROPER CHARLEY!
Tok on his unexpected Larkin connection…
Since the hugely popular and practically ‘perfick’ 1990s TV adaptation of HE Bates’ 1958 novel The Darling Buds of May starred the likes of Sir David Jason, Pam Ferris and a then-unknown Catherine Zeta-jones, the cast of Simon Nye’s new take on the 1950s Kentish family the Larkins knew they had some pretty big gumboots to fill. However, when taking on the role of mild-mannered tax inspector Charley Charlton, Tok had a bit of an advantage over his co-stars!
‘After I got cast, I found out more about The Darling Buds of May, and I saw that Philip Franks, who directed me at drama school and helped get me an agent, had been in it – and I was going to be playing the part he played! That was a bit weird.’ So, did the original Charley give Tok any advice when he heard the news?
‘Pip gave me his blessing and said, “Make the character your own,”’ Tok reveals. ‘And when he watched the first series of The Larkins, he said he was proud of me – which was incredible!’