The Darling Buds of May

1991 - 1993

The Darling Buds of May (1)

Episode 1

Earnest young tax inspector Cedric Charlton visits the sizeable Larkin family at Home Farm in the countryside. They have not paid tax in an age and he has come to help them fill in their tax forms. However, they get him drunk and, intoxicated as he already is with the charms of the Larkins' eldest daughter Mariette, he decides to stay with them and share their rural idyll.

The Darling Buds of May (2)

14th April 1991

Episode 2

Having woken with a hangover but determined to stay at Home Farm, 'Charley' as the family call him ,decides to accompany the Larkins on a strawberry-picking outing where he catches the eye of local vamp Pauline Jackson. She vies with Mariette for his attentions but Mariette wins and the couple decide to get married, with Pop's blessing.

When the Green Woods Laugh (1)

21st April 1991

Episode 3

Pop decides to buy the west wing of the country seat of impoverished aristocrats, the Bluff-Gores, initially for scrap, but Lady Bluff-Gore persuades him to go into the property business. Having rebuffed the advances of urbanite Corinne Perigo, Pop is set up when Mrs. Perigo engineers a situation in which he catches hold of nervous Mrs. Jerebohm to stop her from falling over on a boat. Mrs Perigo encourages the other woman to bring a charge of sexual harassment against Pop.

When the Green Woods Laugh (2)

28th April 1991

Episode 4

Pop duly appears in court charged with sexual harassment but Mrs. Perigo is discredited when Pop's brother Uncle Perce, a hotel porter in London, testifies that she is well-known in the big city as rather more of a scarlet woman than she paints herself and the case is thrown out. The day of Mariette's wedding to Charley arrives and, as Charley has no family, the Larkins' friend, the Brigadier, acts as best man after he has got rather cosy with another family friend, the sweet but flirtatious Angela Snow.

A Breath of French Air (1)

Episode 5

The whole family go on holiday to France, a holiday which gets off to a bad start. However, when the family car is seen to have a crest on it, it is assumed that they are titled nobility. Mademoiselle Dupont, the pension's owner, calls Pop 'Milord' and gives him and Ma her bedroom. Even the grumpy receptionist is respectful. Primrose, the second eldest daughter, falls for local boy Marc-Antoine but Charley is annoyed to see his wife cavorting with skimpily clad French hunks on the beach.

A Breath of French Air (2)

Episode 6

A jealous Charley gets drunk when Mariette refuses to go on the local miniature railway, preferring to stay on the beach with the admiring local boys. Pop sobers him up and effects a reconciliation. Mariette finally agrees to go on the railway and enjoys it. Angela Snow and her sister Iris, who are also on holiday in the area, organize a first wedding anniversary party for the Charltons.

Christmas Is Coming

22nd December 1991

Episode 7

The Larkin family plan the quintessential English Christmas, with food, drink and presents galore.

Top Cast

David Jason•Pam Ferris•Catherine Zeta-Jones

An idyllic picture of 1950's rural England as seen through the lives of the Larkins, a farm family living in Kent. The show revolves around Pa Larkin, a man of a kind and mischievous nature with a penchant for getting into scrapes and talking his way out of them with equal equanimity; and his daughters, as they deal with growing up and discovering the joys and sorrows of young love.

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Production Companies

Full Cast

David Jason Image

David Jason

Pop Larkin

Pam Ferris Image

Pam Ferris

Ma Larkin

Catherine Zeta-Jones Image

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Mariette

Philip Franks

Charley

Stephanie Ralph

Victoria

Rachel Bell Image

Rachel Bell

Edith Pilchester

Abigail Rokison

Primrose

Full Crew

H. E. Bates

Novel

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