The Darling Buds of May (1991)
Have had insomnia, ITV airs it in the small hours. Am new to the show and quite like it—very soothing, idyllic, and heartwarming. CZJ looks a vision. Primrose is my favourite Larkin, she’s a horny pretentious mess.
Questions: just how are the Larkins so wealthy off junk trading? Who farms their 22 acres while they’re having japes & jaunts? Why don’t they have any sons? How did Charley land a bombshell like Mariette? How does she afford those stunning outfits? And why did they give their baby a full name as a first name (John Blenheim)? Why is absolutely everyone in the village healthy and comfortable, and no significant misfortune ever befalls anyone? How come all these bumpkins are so well-read? Was nostalgia for WWII ‘camaraderie’ (as one character puts it) a real phenomenon?
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 23, 2022 9:32 PM
|
Another question: Isn’t Sonnet 18 a mocking tribute to a sexy twink who daddy Shakespeare lusted from afar, and a satirical comment about idealism in literature? Why then was a line from it chosen to title a show like this? Doesn’t seem very apt.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | December 21, 2022 1:14 PM
|
I'd think the title came from the series of books it's based on.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | December 21, 2022 1:17 PM
|
Was CZK an infant when this was made?
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | December 21, 2022 1:18 PM
|
R4 according to wiki, Catherine was 22 at the start of the show, and her character Mariette was meant to be a few years younger.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | December 21, 2022 1:22 PM
|
Btw R4 the actress cast as Mariette in the remake is 30. Wonder if that was a cheeky subtle wink to the audience...
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | December 21, 2022 1:27 PM
|
R1 damned right it’s a fairytale.
In the episode I saw last night, Primrose (the nubile, sex-starved and stalkerish16 year old daughter character) cornered her hot older sister Mariette’s nerdy husband Charley in a barn, and essentially begged him to fuck her and take her virginity (in polite quaint rural 1950s fashion, of course). Primrose even forcibly kissed him. Charley pushed her away, sat her down on a hay bale, patted her head and called her silly girl, and said that she ought not have sex or even think about it until she was older, married and fell in love (with the same man). Then he sent Primrose on her way alone, and trotted back home tittering to tell Mariette about it.
My jaw was on the floor. In what world does a homely man in his early-mid 20s, living in a rural place with a dearth of young pussy, before the advent of video let alone tube streams, pass up the offer of a clandestine shag with his teen sister-in-law? Not in this p0rnsick timeline, he’d be all over her and under her skirt in a second. And even back in the wartime days, people were cheating on one another and perving and having age-gap hookups which way.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | December 21, 2022 2:44 PM
|
Ah, having seen a bit more tonight, it seems I stand corrected--the Larkins do in fact have one son, their eldest child Monty, whom despite being a sensitive lad they sent away to Naval College, as explored in Episode 6 of Season 2 ('The Season of Heavenly Gifts, Part II').
Seems like something middle-aged and rural and sheltered 1950s parents might well do to a gay son, to spare him and the family disgrace or embarrassment in front of the villagers. There again, Ma & Pop seem remarkably tolerant people for the age, almost like they have the mores of people forty or fifty years in the future (perils of writing period drama--the spirit of the age in which it is written shall inevitably colour the story and characters).
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | December 21, 2022 9:42 PM
|
The wardrobe & costume is everything for me rn. Catherine looks fab in every single outfit.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | December 23, 2022 12:45 AM
|
For a slow, twee period dramedy, it's got a bit of saucy innuendo.
Pop: "Fancy a bit a' rough?" Enid: "Not in front of my gels!"
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 23, 2022 9:32 PM
|
