The Durrells is a new TV series broadcasted by BBC, based on the famous autobiography ‘My Family and Other Animals’, by Gerald Durrell.
As a child Gerald was obsessed with wildlife, he was also a naturalist in his later life, and a trip to Corfu helped him reach his lifelong dream. At school he was not very popular and in the series it makes him out as not very intelligent either. Furthermore, his father, who does not appear in any of the episodes, died when he was very young leaving the family broke. As a solution, his mother decides to take all her children: Larry, Margo, Gerald and Lesley, to Corfu.
However, there are many differences between the series and the audio and book. For example, in the series it makes out that they were having money problems, whilst it does not in the audio and book. Another example is that the mother nearly marries Sven – one of the locals – but he is not even mentioned in the audio and book. Moreover, Gerald’s mother never finds another love. The makers of the series have admitted that it is not entirely based on the book and they have tweaked it to make it more exciting.
In addition, the four star series has been cut very short after just six episodes, but there is confirmation of there being a second series. I hope there is because I thoroughly enjoyed the first.
By Olly Milward