| Image Alt: | Series titles over painting of house and trees |
| Alt Name: | The Durrells in Corfu |
| Genre: | Comedy drama |
| Producer: | Christopher Hall |
| Executive Producer: | Lee Morris Sally Woodward Gentle Simon Nye |
| Theme Music Composer: | Ruth Barrett |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Cinematography: | Julian Court, James Aspinall |
| Runtime: | 47 minutes |
| Company: | Sid Gentle Films Masterpiece co-production |
| Network: | ITV |
| Num Series: | 4 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
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.[1] It aired on ITV from 3 April 2016 to 12 May 2019.[2] The series is written by Simon Nye, directed by Steve Barron and Roger Goldby, and produced by Christopher Hall.[3] Lee Durrell, Gerald Durrell's widow and director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, acted as consultant.[4] The series was partly filmed on location in Corfu, as well as at Ealing Studios and Twickenham Studios in London.[5]
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.
| Character | Portrayed by | Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 | Series 4 | Duration |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | |||||
| colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | |||||
| colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | |||||
| colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | |||||
| colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | |||||
| Spiros Halikiopoulos | colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | ||||
| Lugaretzia | colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | ||||
| colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 26 | |||||
| Florence Petrides | Lucy Black | colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 21 | |||
| Dr. Petrides | colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 9 | ||||
| Sven Lundblad | Ulric von der Esch | colspan="4" | 2016–2019 | 11 | |||
| Pavlos | Nikos Orestis Chaniotakis | colspan="2" | 2016–2019 | 6 | |||
| Countess Mavrodaki | colspan="2" | 2016–2019 | 6 | ||||
| Aunt Hermione | colspan="2" | 2016–2018 | 5 | ||||
| Max | Maximilian Befort | colspan="2" | 2016–2017 | 3 | |||
| Donald | Ben Hall | colspan="2" | 2016–2017 | 7 | |||
| Captain Creech | colspan="2" | 2016–2019 | 4 | ||||
| Prudence | 2016–2019 | 4 | |||||
| Geoffrey | 2016–2019 | 4 | |||||
| Nancy | Lizzy Watts | 2016 | 3 | ||||
| Alexia | Hara-Joy Ermidi | 2016 | 3 | ||||
| Dennis | 2016 | 4 | |||||
| Angel | Jamie Ward | 2016 | 3 | ||||
| Hugh Jarvis | 2017 | 6 | |||||
| Vasilia Prifona | Errika Bigiou | 2017 | 5 | ||||
| Zoltan | Merch Husey | 2017–2019 | 7 | ||||
| 2018 | 2 | ||||||
| Daphne Likourgou | Elli Tringou | colspan="2" | 2018–2019 | 8 | |||
| Galini | Olivia Lebedeva-Alexopoulou | colspan="2" | 2018–2019 | 6 | |||
| Basil | Miles Jupp[6] | 2018–2019 | 8 | ||||
| Countess De Torro | Sarah Crowden | 2019 | 2 | ||||
| Lazaros Vangelatos | Constantin Symsiris | 2019 | 1 | ||||
1935
1936
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", and that production would begin in three weeks' time, upon Keeley Hawes's arrival in Corfu for filming. It is set in 1937.[7]
1939
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.[8]
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[9] and the most-watched show of the day (including +1).[10] Following a seven-day catch-up period, the figure aggregated to just under 8.2 million people.[11] 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.[12] Over the course of the first series, ratings averaged out at 6.9 million viewers.[13]
| Year | Category | Award | Nominee | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Best Actress | Broadcasting Press Guild Award | [14] | ||
| 2017 | Best Drama Series | BAFTA TV Award | The Durrells | [15] | |
| 2017 | Best Costume Design | BAFTA TV Award | Charlotte Holdich | ||
| 2017 | Best Titles & Graphic Identity | BAFTA TV Award | Alex Maclean | ||
| 2017 | Best Writer: Drama | BAFTA TV Award | Simon Nye | ||
| 2016 | Best Production Design: Drama | RTS Craft & Design Award | Stevie Herbert | [16] | |
| 2016 | Best Graphic Design: Titles | RTS Craft & Design Award | Alex Maclean |
Internationally, the series was acquired in Australia by the Seven Network[17] and premiered on 24 August 2016.[18] In the United States, PBS began airing the show, retitled as The Durrells in Corfu, on 16 October 2016 at 8 pm.[19] The Durrells 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.[20] In Spain, the series has been acquired by the streaming platform .[21] 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)[22] and German (as Die Durrells auf Korfu),[23] 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. It began filming in May 2017 and aired on ITV in the Northern Hemisphere in the spring of 2018.[24]
A fourth series was announced by ITV on 22 June 2018, with filming scheduled for later in the year.[25] It was transmitted between 8 April and 12 May 2019. This has been confirmed as the final series.[26]
Keely Hawes presented an accompanying documentary for PBS Masterpiece series called 'The Durrells in Corfu - What the Durrells Did Next', ran 47 mins long.
| width=120 rowspan=2 | Series | Release date | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=150 | Region 1/A | width=150 | Region 2 (UK) | width=150 | Region 2 (Germany) | width=150 | Region 4 |
| Single series | |||||||
| 1 | 1 November 2016 | 23 May 2016 | 31 July 2020[27] | 11 December 2019[28] | |||
| 2 | 24 October 2017 | 29 May 2017 | 25 September 2020[29] | 11 December 2019[30] | |||
| 3 | 16 October 2018 | 14 May 2018 | 27 November 2020[31] | 20 November 2019[32] | |||
| 4 | 3 December 2019 | 20 May 2019 | 5 February 2021[33] | 13 November 2019[34] | |||
| Multiple series sets | |||||||
| 1 & 2 | 29 May 2017 | ||||||
| 1–3 | 14 May 2018 | ||||||
| Complete | 20 May 2019 | 13 November 2019[35] | |||||