The Larkins (2021)
- TV comedy drama
- ITV1
- 2021 - 2022
- 13 episodes (2 series)
Adaptation of H.E. Bates's novels about the eccentric, rural Larkin family, starring Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan. Also features Sabrina Bartlett, Tok Stephen, Peter Davison, Barney Walsh, Kriss Dosanjh and more.
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 1 - In Which We Meet The Larkin Family
Further details
Excited and busy, plans for the approaching May Day Fair are under way in the village but everything is not as peaceful as it might be in the Larkins' world. Mariette is keen to leave home and see the world.
Ma and Pop are devastated and doing their best to convince her to stay. Even the arrival of suave Tom Fisher doesn't seem to have the desired effect. Meanwhile Pop is trying to save Miss Pilchester from having to sell her house to pushy Mr Rance, an outsider from London. Ma is furious that village gossip (particularly from the Normans) about Pop suggests he is uncultured and illiterate.
Pop buys Ma a Rolls Royce to help rectify matters and Ma has her heart set on Pop being Master of Hounds and taking the crown from Alec Norman (who is still fuming that Montgomery Larkin scraped his sports car). Things come to a head at the May Day Fair Charity Auction where Alec Norman mistakenly buys a 'Turner' painting that turns out to be a Montgomery Larkin original. But with the arrival of the tax man things are looking bleak for the Larkins.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Sunday 10th October 2021
- Time
- 8pm
- Channel
- ITV1
- Length
- 60 minutes
Cast & crew
| Bradley Walsh | Pop Larkin |
| Joanna Scanlan | Ma Larkin |
| Sabrina Bartlett | Mariette Larkin |
| Tok Stephen | Cedric 'Charley' Charlton |
| Peter Davison | Vicar |
| Barney Walsh | PC Harness |
| Kriss Dosanjh | Brigadier |
| Amelia Bullmore | Miss Edith Pilchester |
| Seeta Indrani | Miss Chand |
| Robert Bathurst | Johnny Delamere |
| Stephen Hagan | Tom Fisher |
| Francesca Wilson Waterworth | Libby Fothergill |
| Tony Gardner | Alec Norman |
| Selina Griffiths | Norma Norman |
| Lydia Page | Primrose Larkin |
| Liam Middleton | Montgomery Larkin |
| Lola Shepelev | Victoria Larkin |
| Davina Coleman | Zinnia Larkin |
| Rosie Coleman | Petunia Larkin |
| Natalie Mitson | Pauline |
| Wil Johnson | Old Reg |
| Matthew Bates | TV Presenter |
| Karl Collins | Mr Rance |
| Louis Gaunt | Eddie |
| George Hannigan | Jasper |
| Bernadine Britchett | TV Nun |
| Jasmine Raymond | Mrs Rance |
| Tom Xander | Brian |
| Simon Nye | Writer |
| Victoria Wicks | Script Consultant |
| Andy de Emmony | Director |
| Serena Cullen | Producer |
| Ben Farrell | Executive Producer |
| Charlotte Lewis | Executive Producer |
| Sophie Clarke-Jervoise | Executive Producer |
| Simon Nye | Executive Producer |
| Toby Stevens | Executive Producer |
| Bradley Walsh | Executive Producer |
| Jane Harrison | Line Producer |
| Martha Lake | Post Producer |
| Cornelius Shea | Post Producer |
| William Webb | Editor |
| Lucy Spink | Production Designer |
| Tracey Gillham | Casting Director |
| June Nevin | Costume Designer |
| Darran Bragg | Director of Photography |
| Jill Stansfield | Make-up Designer |
| Nick Green | Composer |
| Maisie Robinson | Graphics |
| Claire Grossmith | 1st Assistant Director |
Press
The Larkins review
Never mind the all-star cast. Every eye was on the relative unknown, as Sabrina Bartlett took on the mantle of Mariette, the original Darling Bud Of May.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 11th October 2021The Larkins review
Darling Buds Of May reboot is a warm comfort pudding.
Carol Midgley, The Times, 11th October 2021The Larkins review
Bradley Walsh is a perfick Pop in ITV's Darling Buds Of May reboot.
Helen Daly, Radio Times, 10th October 2021The Larkins review
It is the kind of production that the new secretary of state for culture, Nadine "Mad Nad" Dorries would greatly approve of, mainly because it is precisely the kind of opioid atavistic tosh she churns out in her novels. It's a sort of Brexit Television, set in a post-war green and pleasant England that never was and never will be, but for which so many feel an overwhelming nostalgia (and so much so that they're prepared to vote in their millions for a better yesterday).
Sean O'Grady, The Independent, 10th October 2021The Larkins review
Ian Hyland says ITV's The Larkins is not stuck in the past but has been revived to have a modern feel with plenty of diversity - that's the next five Sunday nights sorted.
Ian Hyland, The Mirror, 10th October 2021The Larkins review
ITV remake is the perfick warm hug we desperately need on Sunday nights.
Charlotte Manning, Metro, 10th October 2021The Larkins review
There's nothing 'perfick' about this clumsy remake.
Anita Singh, The Telegraph, 10th October 2021