Featuring a total of 20 episodes, it was broadcast as three series of six double-episode story lines in the spring of 1991, 1992 and 1993, plus two single-episode Christmas specials aired in 1991 and 1992.

Tax collector Cedric ("Charley") visits to audit Pop but falls in love with Mariette and quits his job to live the rural life.

Possessing some very close friends, their lifestyle, in particular the fact they have never been married, nonetheless raises eyebrows in the stuffy environs of the local village.

Primrose is depicted as a frustrated romantic, moving to France to live with a boy her own age and attempting to seduce both Charley and the village minister upon her return.

In the second serial ("When the green woods laugh") Sidney is accused of committing indecent assault on 23 August 1958, with the trial taking place on the same day as Charley and Mariette's wedding.

By the time of the third serial ("A breath of French air"), Florence has already given birth to Oscar, and the Larkins have a late-August holiday in Brittany, during which Charley and Mariette celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

By the eleventh serial ("Climb the greasy pole"), when the children are older and the babies have grown to toddlerhood, another close-up of a calendar reveals the month to be October 1959.

[2] Bates had originally considered Bob Hoskins as ideal for the role of Pop, but Lawrence was of the view his increasing fame as a film actor would create problems.

Finding an actor to fit with the novel's description of Mariette as a black-haired and olive-skinned beauty proved difficult, with more than 300 hopefuls being rejected until Zeta-Jones was cast.

All four main buildings of the Grade II listed farm were utilised: the farmhouse itself, a square oast house (depicted in the title sequence), a Tudor barn and cart lodge.

[4][5] Other locations in Pluckley village itself were used extensively; the Black Horse pub in The Street was renamed the Hare and Hounds and used as the Larkins' local.

He had submitted the piece anonymously, having deemed the submissions received from a shortlist of composers missed the point of the essential romanticism of the show.

[8][9] In 2016, having filmed a cinema adaptation of another classic TV series, Dad's Army, Zeta-Jones responded positively to suggestions that The Darling Buds of May might also be similarly remade, stating "I'd be playing Ma Larkin, but I'm up for it".

[10] However, by 2020, any plans for a film were put on hold, with the Radio Times reporting that ITV was to remake the series, with Simon Nye writing the scripts and with Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan in the cast.

[11] The series, with the title The Larkins, first aired in October 2021 starring Walsh and Scanlan, with Sabrina Bartlett and Peter Davison also amongst the cast.

While Monty and Victoria have no middle names, the other children have several: Primrose Violet Anemone Iris Magnolia Narcissa, twins Petunia June Florence Nightingale and Zinnia June Florence Nightingale, and Oscar Columbus Septimus Dupont, the last one being in tribute to the French hotelier Madamoiselle Dupont, who features in the series.

Mariette and Charlie continue the family penchant for elaborate naming by christening their son John Marlborough Churchill Blenheim.

[citation needed] Whilst Yorkshire TV classified it as a drama, audiences and critics have generally considered it to be a comedy-drama.

The first episode broke a British broadcasting record, becoming the first instance of a new series topping the national ratings, beating the soap opera Coronation Street (also an ITV production) on the night.

This came as a shock to producers, although they had been hopeful of good ratings due to dull weather and the belief that people would be looking for something to lift their spirits following the end of the Gulf War.

[1] Jason attributed the series' popularity to the public wanting a more wholesome, inclusive and inoffensive viewing option at a time when violence on television was increasing.