At Home With The Durrells

Keeley Hawes invites us to glorious corfu to talk romance motherhood and the show's endearing new anilmal addition.

- Emma Bullimore

With its crystal blue waters, warm sunshine and stunning vistas, hit ITV drama The Durrells makes Corfu look utterly idyllic.

Sitting on a bright terrace chatting to star Keeley Hawes and enjoying a cool breeze, TV Times can confirm it’s not camera trickery – the island is just as magical as the series would have you believe.

‘I didn’t need any persuading to come back! I feel quite smug because my husband, Matthew [Macfadyen], is back home filming at Pinewood Studios right now,’ laughs Keeley, 41, who jetted to Corfu straight after filming last year’s BBC1 thriller The Missing.

‘I had to think of sunshine and pelicans all the way through making The Missing because the subject matter was so grim. The weather has been quite interesting this time, though, we had a couple of days of Biblical rain, that’s what makes it so green...’

Based on zoologist Gerald Durrell’s charming trilogy of memoirs, The Durrells proved an instant hit when it aired last spring. Keeley admits she felt anxious making the difficult second series.

‘There’s always a worry – when something has been a bit of a success everyone says, “Isn’t it fantastic, well done… now do it again!” and you think, “Oh God!’’’ she smiles. ‘But I’m relieved because the scripts are even better this year.’

As we rejoin the family they’re more settled, but still scrimping and saving to make ends meet, and Louisa is licking her wounds after her ill-fated relationship with Swede Sven, who eventually revealed he was gay.