The Durrells (known in North America as The Durrells in Corfu) is a British comedy-drama television series loosely based on Gerald Durrell's three autobiographical books about his family's four years (1935–1939) on the Greek island of Corfu.
Premise
The series begins in 1935, when
Louisa Durrell suddenly announces that she and her four children will move from
Bournemouth to the Greek island of
Corfu. Her husband died some years earlier and the family is experiencing financial problems. A struggle ensues as the family adapts to life on the island and a shortage of money. Despite a lack of electricity and of modern sewage systems, Corfu proves to be a cheap and earthly paradise.
Cast and characters
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| 26 |
| 26 |
| 26 |
| 26 |
| 26 |
| 21 |
| 9 |
| 11 |
| 6 |
| 6 |
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| 3 |
| 7 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 3 |
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| 3 |
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| 2 |
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Episodes
Series 1 (2016)
1935
Series 2 (2017)
1936
Series 3 (2018)
1937
A third series was confirmed to be in production by writer Simon Nye at the BFI and Radio Times Television Festival on 8 April 2017. He described the third series as having "some exotic new animals",
Series 4 (2019)
1939
Reception
Critical reception
Reception to the first episode was positive, with Gerard O'Donovan (
The Telegraph) calling it "a series that's not only sun-drenched and liberating, but also catches its source material's high good humour without labouring it and weaves an authentic sense of the innocent exoticism of the original", before awarding it four stars.
Viewership
The opening episode averaged just under 6.4 million people and was watched by 29% of the audience over the hour, including those watching on British television network ITV's +1 channel, and was the biggest drama launch of any channel so far in 2016
and the most-watched show of the day (including +1).
Following a seven-day catch-up period, the figure aggregated to just under 8.2 million people.
Citing the show as its "best rating new drama of the year and its highest rating new show since September 2014", ITV recommissioned the show for a second series on 15 April 2016.
Over the course of the first series, ratings averaged out at 6.9 million viewers.
Awards and nominations
Broadcast
Internationally, the series was acquired in Australia by the
Seven Network and premiered on 24 August 2016.
In the United States,
PBS began airing the show, retitled as
The Durrells in Corfu, on 16 October 2016 at 8 pm.
started screening in New Zealand on 26 October 2016 on Prime TV. In Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began airing Series 1 on 13 September 2017.
In Spain, the series has been acquired by the streaming platform .
It was broadcast in France from 16 July 2017 on France 3 as
La Folle Aventure des Durrell. The
Arte network later screened the series in French (as
The Durrells : une famille anglaise à Corfou)
[ The Durrells : une famille anglaise à Corfou, Arte, retrieved 6 August 2024.] and German (as
Die Durrells auf Korfu),
[ Die Durrells auf Korfu, Arte, retrieved 6 August 2024.] as well as in English with optional subtitles.
The third series of The Durrells was announced by writer Simon Nye at the BFI and Radio Times Television Festival on 8 April 2017.
A fourth series was announced by ITV on 22 June 2018, with filming scheduled for later in the year.
Keely Hawes presented an accompanying documentary for PBS Masterpiece series called The Durrells in Corfu - What the Durrells Did Next, ran 47 mins long.
Home media
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| 1 | 1 November 2016 | 23 May 2016 | 31 July 2020 | 11 December 2019 |
| 2 | 24 October 2017 | 29 May 2017 | 25 September 2020 | 11 December 2019 |
| 3 | 16 October 2018 | 14 May 2018 | 27 November 2020 | 20 November 2019 |
| 4 | 3 December 2019 | 20 May 2019 | 5 February 2021 | 13 November 2019 |
|
| 1 & 2 | | 29 May 2017 | | |
| 1–3 | | 14 May 2018 | | |
| Complete | | 20 May 2019 | | 13 November 2019 |
See also
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Gerald Durrell's Corfu trilogy books:
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My Family and Other Animals (1956)
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Birds, Beasts, and Relatives (1969)
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The Garden of the Gods (1978)
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My Family and Other Animals, a 1987 BBC series based on the book by the same name
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My Family and Other Animals, a 2005 BBC telemovie based on the book by the same name
External links
