TV SERIES · 1991– · UK
The Darling Buds of May
32 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (32)
- #001
In 2011, Catherine Zeta-Jones invited Sir David Jason to a rented house in Richmond to have Sunday lunch with her and her husband Michael Douglas. Jason was seeing Jones for the first time since she married Douglas; they had rented a magnificent property and Douglas was playing with their sons in the pool. Jason regarded him as a big Hollywood star, but Douglas was very relaxed as he climbed out of the pool soaked in his Bermuda shorts and shook Jason's hand. Douglas thanked Jason for being generous to Jones and for looking after her on the series, and Jason was pleased that he thought so.
- #002
Sir David Jason gained weight in the role of Pop Larkin because of all the food in the series; bread and ham, cheese, pickled onions, fried dishes, chocolate and so on were meant to show the Larkin family's generous spirit and carefree love of life. There were also fried breakfasts cooked fresh on a small stove on set. The set was constantly filled with the smell of frying bacon, which made the crew's mouths water. One day on set, the shooting schedule meant Jason sat down to breakfast five times, with the breakfast full of bacon and eggs. Jason asked whether he could skip the fried food, so they switched to smoked haddock, which was just as bad. The extra weight he gained meant he could not wear an evening jacket that fitted him to that year's BAFTAs. He claimed he looked like Hardy wearing something of Laurel's. He had to diet for several months to get back his old "sylph-like" weight.
- #003
O. Bates took the title from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate; Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date."
- #004
Sir David Jason was not asked whether he wanted to pursue a personal project after the end of the series. Seeing how successful his career had become, he was shocked and dazed; he could have shouted out the possibilities of where his career was going. When asked what he wanted to do as an actor, he said he liked detective series and wanted to play in one, which resulted in A Touch of Frost (1992).
- #005
The novel was written in 1957, and Yorkshire Television wanted Sir David Jason to play Pop Larkin. He had never read the book, so he went and read it before accepting the role and said it was both charming and a pleasant read, but not much happened and it went nowhere. The characters were strong, though, especially Pop Larkin, and he would be fun to play. Jason's only condition was that the series be filmed, because he did not want it to be a studio production. At least it would look good on film and would have some quality even if nothing else came of it.
- #006
Sir David Jason knows how to milk cows, which served him well in the role of the farmer Pop Larkin.
- #007
The writers made the relationship between Pop and Ma Larkin the centre of the drama. Sir David Jason described them as "loving, cheeky, generous, trusting".
- #008
In the books the series was based on, Ma and Pa Larkin had another daughter after Oscar, named Phyllida.
- #009
In the famous scene where Sir David Jason and Pam Ferris bathe while eating dinner, Jason considered coming to the set in a frog mask and flippers but did not do it. Jason and Ferris wore swimsuits, and the water was coloured to preserve their modesty. Jason regarded the scene as an ice-breaker.
- #010
Sir David Jason claimed the cast were like a big (overfed) family who truly loved and looked after one another.
- #011
Sir David Jason said Catherine Zeta-Jones was the series' greatest discovery, because she was extremely beautiful, knew the camera would love her, and was as lovely a person as she appeared.
- #012
Sir David Jason said the message of this series was the same as that of Only Fools and Horses (1981): the most important thing is what happens at home and within the family.
- #013
Nobody repaired the cracks in the wall of Sir David Jason's dressing room, so he did it himself.
- #014
After the lightness of Only Fools and Horses (1981) and The Darling Buds of May, Sir David Jason liked the darkness of A Touch of Frost (1992) because it showed audiences he could play both, though lightness also became part of Frost.
- #015
Hundreds of actresses were interviewed for the role of Mariette before Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast at the age of 22. Until then much of her career had been in musical theatre, but taking the role of Mariette was a big breakthrough for her. Jones was inexperienced in television and was very nervous at first; Sir David Jason advised her to keep her eyes still while delivering dialogue in close-up, something he had once done himself. He said her Hollywood success was down to her tuition. She managed to play Mariette with the right mixture of innocence and coquettishness. Her stardom could not have happened to anyone better.
- #016
Sir David Jason once smuggled a cucumber into a bed scene with Pam Ferris. He had to deliver most of the dialogue and did the scene perfectly even though he knew it was there. Ferris only wanted to know what Jason was up to after the cameras stopped. Ferris is known for being very professional.
- #017
Location filming took place around Kent in glorious summer weather. The house had an annexe and an attached Tudor barn. The interiors were done at a studio in Yorkshire. Sir David Jason felt the genius of the series was blending footage taken from two different sources.
- #018
Sir David Jason described the cast as a big, happy family and said working on the series were happy days too. He said similar things about Only Fools and Horses (1981). He said the cast felt like a family both on and off set and genuinely liked one another, which created an extra warmth.
- #019
Sir David Jason claimed the role of Pop Larkin made several unusual demands of him. His car was actually an old Army vehicle painted to look like a Rolls-Royce. He noted that driving it had little to do with what is generally thought of as driving a car today. "It had a crash gearbox with a lever that would nearly pull your shoulder out of its socket and steering that provided a thorough upper-body workout."
- #020
On one occasion when Sir David Jason went to Wimbledon, Jack Nicholson was in the front row. Jason expected all the attention to go to Nicholson, but instead the opposite happened. Jason suspected, ironically, that he was the reason Nicholson did not receive more attention, because those present were more in awe of Nicholson than of Jason, who was more approachable thanks to his roles as Pop Larkin or Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses (1981).
- #021
The series became a national, award-winning hit. Sir David Jason admitted that the cast were amazed by the show's success.
- #022
Sir David Jason said he would never have been cast as Pop Larkin if he had not first appeared in A Bit of a Do (1989), because that put him on Yorkshire Television's radar, which later led to his role in A Touch of Frost (1992).
- #023
The rights to H. E. Bates's stories are administered by Evensford Productions Ltd (1965).
- #024
Pip Burley, the composer of the title music, is also a co-owner of Excelsior Productions, which made the series together with Yorkshire Television Ltd.
- #025
After the series ended, Sir David Jason described the celebration party as a "very jolly affair". Yorkshire Television executives asked Jason why he thought he could play a TV detective in the forthcoming A Touch of Frost (1992). Jason felt he was being interrogated by good and bad executives alike. He explained that the genre was extremely popular and that he wanted to explore a somewhat darker side of the Frost character, while also asserting the superiority of the British approach to TV detective programmes (in which the viewer tries to solve the crime alongside the detective) over the American approach (in which the crime and the culprit are shown to the viewer at the start and the detective's trail to the guilty party is then followed). After that, Jason had convinced them.
- #026
The series' music was recorded at Olympic Studios in London, England. The music arrangements were by series composer Barrie Guard, and the orchestrations were by Tim Stevenson and Francis Shaw. It was designed by John Etchells, assisted by Richard Arnold. It was mixed by John Etchells at The Astoria, Hampton Court, England. Orchestral contractor: Godfrey Salmon.
- #027
Several pieces of music that the Larkins hear on the radio on the BBC Light Programme during the period were re-recorded for use in the series by Barrie Guard, who conducted the British Light Concert Orchestra. The original versions of the recreated pieces had originally been recorded for the Production Music Libraries of Chappell's and Bosworth and Co. respectively. The re-recorded pieces were: Chappell Tracks: 'Devil's Gallop' - best known for its use as the theme of Dick Barton. 'Calling All Workers' - known as the theme of Music While You Work. 'Puffin' Billy' - best known as the theme tune of Children's Choice. 'In Party Mood' - better known for Housewife's Choice. These were recorded at Olympic Studios along with the rest of the series' music.
- #028
A soundtrack album containing 16 pieces of music from the series was released in 1999 by EMI Records Ltd under the Soundtrack label. It included the title theme 'Perfeck!', plus many incidental pieces, plus four source music tracks re-recorded for the series, the day's 4 popular radio themes. This release was one of the short-lived releases of EMI's Soundtrack Records label, and many planned releases were cancelled.
- #029
John Blenheim's full name: John Marlborough Churchill Blenheim Charlton.
- #030
Like the later A Touch of Frost (1992), both shows featured a demanding eating regimen that tested Sir David Jason's stomach. People would tell Jason that he ate badly.
- #031
Bob Hoskins and Geoffrey Hughes were considered for the role of Pop Larkin.
- #032
Both Sir David Jason and Pam Ferris went on to appear in crime series: Jason as D. I. Frost in A Touch of Frost (1992) and Ferris as Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme (2003).
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