''The Larkins'' is a British comedy drama television series, produced by Objective Fiction and Genial Productions. The series is the most recent adaptation of

H. E. Bates Herbert Ernest Bates (16 May 1905 – 29 January 1974), better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer. His best-known works include ''Love for Lydia'', '' The Darling Buds of May'', and '' My Uncle Silas''. Early life H.E. Bates was ...

novel '' The Darling Buds of May''. Both the novel and the series are set in rural 1950s Kent and revolve around the life of Pop and Ma Larkin and their six children. The series stars

Bradley Walsh Bradley John Walsh (born 4 June 1960) is an English actor, comedian, singer, television presenter, and former professional footballer. Walsh is known for his roles as Danny Baldwin in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2004–2006), as ...

as "Pop" Larkin and

Joanna Scanlan Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in British series such as ''The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), '' Getting On'' (2009–2012), ''Puppy Love'' (2014), and ''No Offence'' ( ...

as "Ma" Larkin. The eldest daughter of the family, Mariette, is played by

Sabrina Bartlett Sabrina Lois Bartlett (born September 1991) is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC One miniseries '' The Passing Bells'' (2014), the third series of the ITV drama ''Victoria'' (2019), and the first series of ''Knightfall'' ...

(series 1) and Joelle Rae (series 2), while Tok Stephen plays accountant, Cedric "Charley" Charlton.

Characters

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2021)

Christmas Special (2021)

Series 2 (2022)

Filming locations

Various locations throughout the south east of England have been used during filming to stand in for the fictional setting of Littlechurch including the villages of

West Peckham West Peckham is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The River Bourne flows through the extreme west of the parish, and formerly powered a paper mill ( Hamptons Mill) and corn mill ( Oxenhoath Mill) ...

and Underriver in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Romshed Farm near Sevenoaks served as the Larkins farm and home. According to the Kent Film office some of the other key locations for series 1 are: * Viking Bay and Victoria Gardens in

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

(and the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

) * Stonepitts Farm near

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

* Long Barn in Sundridge *

Squerryes Court Squerryes Court is a late 17th-century manor house that stands just outside the town of Westerham in Kent. The house, which has been held by the same family for over 280 years, is surrounded by extensive gardens and parkland and is a grade I lis ...

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. It is recorded as early as t ...

* The Walpole Bay Hotel & Museum in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

* Eynsford (The Village Hall, Castle Hotel, The Five Bells Pub and Eynsford riverside) New locations featured in the 2021 Christmas Special included Underriver Village Hall, a private residence in Underriver and a private cottage in

Chiddingstone Chiddingstone is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the River Eden between Tonbridge and Edenbridge. The village of Chiddingstone Causeway and the hamlet Chiddingstone Hoath are also ...

Reception

Reviews

The first episode of ''The Larkins'' received generally positive reviews. James Jackson of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' wrote that "The jollity of the voracious Larkin family is undeniable, bursting with enough warmth to power an entire country village", with the publication awarding it four stars out of five. ''

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' also awarded the episode four stars out of five, particularly praising Bradley Walsh as Pop, and wrote that "The Larkins isn't necessarily anything revolutionary ..But what it is is a joyous, comforting and homely show which feels like you're getting a big old hug." Benjie Goodhart, writing for ''

Saga Magazine Saga is a British company focused on serving the needs of those aged 50 and over. It has 2.7 million customers. The company operates sites on the Kent and Sussex coast: Enbrook Park and Priory Square. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. ...

'', wrote that despite his reservations, he "loved it" and praised the cast as "excellent". ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''s Vicki Power remarked that "the dialogue fizzes with playful wit" and summarized their review by saying, "Shot in lush golden hues, this is an entertaining hour of warm-bath telly, the perfick autumn antidote". In contrast, ''The Telegraph''s Anita Singh gave the episode two stars out of five, criticizing the acting and the racial diversity of the cast they felt was not representative of the time period and setting. Sean O'Grady of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' described the episode as "an abomination" and "opioid atavistic tosh", panning the portrayal of the setting as "cloyingly class-ridden ..and bewilderingly archaic to modern eyes".

Viewership

The opening episode was the third most-watched show of the week and second most-watched show of the day. It averaged just over 5.3 million people (including those watching on British television network

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's +1 channel) and was watched by 35.3% of the audience over the hour. Following a seven-day catch-up period, the figure aggregated to 6.58 million people.

Broadcast

Internationally, the series was acquired in New Zealand by the

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

network and premiered on 31 October 2021. It began its first series run in Belgium and The Netherlands on 15 November 2021 via the

BBC First BBC First is an entertainment subscription television channel featuring comedy, crime, drama and film programming, originating from UK and mostly from the BBC. The channel is wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios. The channel began rolling ou ...

channel. In Australia the series was picked up by

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and broadcast in the prime time Saturday evening slot starting on 27 November 2021. First broadcast rights in the US and Canada have been acquired by the AMC-owned

Acorn TV The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

streaming service with the first two episodes available to stream on 13 December 2021. In Spain the series was released on 4 January 2022 on

Filmin Comunidad Filmin S.L., doing business as Filmin, is a Spanish subscription video on demand streaming service, primarily dedicated to streaming independent films, as well as a production company and film distributor. The company headquarters is loc ...

. While the second season was released on 27 December 2022.

Home media

References

External links

* *
The Larkins
at HEBates.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Larkins, The 2021 British television series debuts 2020s British drama television series ITV comedy-dramas Period family drama television series Television series set in the 1950s Television series about siblings Television shows set in Kent Television shows shot in Kent Works by H. E. Bates Television series by All3Media English-language television shows