The Darling Buds of May
The Larkin family lives in rural idyll in 1950s England. Father Larkin never pays his bills, but the big, sprightly family is never short of money. Father Larkin is always working on a new plan to provide the family with cash.
- 1991-1993
- 3 seasons
- BFS Video
- Comedy, Drama
- TV-PG
The Larkin family lives in rural idyll in 1950s England. Father Larkin never pays his bills, but the big, sprightly family is never short of money. Father Larkin is always working on a new plan to provide the family with cash.
Season 3 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 1993
Episode 1
The Happiest Days of Your Life: Part 1
70 mins
As the twins are disrupting the village school Pop sends them to Brockhurst College, a nearby boarding school, but it is short of cash and in need of repair and the twins run away and come home. The Larkins are having the roof mended and Primrose falls for hunky young builder Tony. Charley gets a job - thanks to Mariette's intervention - as the manager of Bristows, the local brewery to whom they plan to sell their hops. Unfortunately, the brewery, like the school, appears to be in dire financial straits.
Episode 2
The Happiest Days of Your Life: Part 2
49 mins
Ernest Bristow offers to sell Charley his ailing brewery but lies about its prospects. Fortunately business-like Mariette obtains the true figures from foreman Tom, enabling Charley to buy at a knock-down price. Pop returns the twins to Brockhurst College, only to find it in danger of closing since so many repairs need doing. Having learned that his roofers may have stolen their tiles from the Council, Pop leans on them to do the repairs for nothing with the girls and the Larkins lending a hand. The school is saved whilst Primrose celebrates a 'grown-up' sixteenth birthday meal with her Tony.
Episode 3
Cast Not Your Pearls Before Swine: Part 1
51 mins
Pop discovers that Edith has a boyfriend called George. He invites them to Ma's birthday party, complete with Punch and Judy show, and befriends George, who turns out to be very wealthy. He convinces Pop to get into a fraud involving pig breeding, though Ma does trust him. Primrose has a new love interest, George the poet from Liverpool, who is helping build a swimming-pool for Pop, but Victoria keeps making fun of her.
Episode 4
Cast Not Your Pearls Before Swine: Part 2
51 mins
When he discovers that George Harran is a married conman who has tried to swindle both himself and Edith, Pop decides to play him an elaborate trick with Jasmine Brown, a friend of Angela Snow, at the swimming-pool opening. He also treats Edith to a trip to Paris and tries to protect her feelings. In the meanwhile, Primrose leaves for Liverpool to find George, but is disappointed.
Episode 5
Climb the Greasy Pole: Part 1
50 mins
Captain Robert Battersby arrives in the neighborhood shortly before rural council elections are held. He is seeking the councillor's position so that he can transform some of his land into a sand quarry, so after much hesitation, Pop stands against him to preserve the landscape, but the campaign gets dirty. In the meantime, Charley and Mariette find out that Bristow has thousands of pounds of debts, and start to wonder whether the game is worth the candle. Their marriage is threatened when Mariette has to deal with feelings for Tom Sargent, and when Charley agrees to do accountancy work for sexually aggressive Miss Winters.
Episode 6
Climb the Greasy Pole: Part 2
49 mins
Mariette and Charley aren't talking after Mariette saw Miss Winters kiss Charley. Nonetheless, they work on the brewery until exhaustion. Pop and Ma get them to reconcile, and Pop helps them buy the brewery. Pop is still campaigning for the rural district council, and is faced with a new problem - will electors vote for him even though he has allowed gypsies to live on his land? But the gypsies turn out to be more useful than expected. Edith Pilchester is mad with the brigadier when she thinks that Captain Battersby and his wife have managed to bribe him.