My Family and Other Animals Tv Series 1987

My Family unit and Other Animals

Based on	the book My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Written by	Gerald Durrell
Screenplay by	Charles Woods
Directed by	Peter Barber-Fleming
Starring	Darren Redmayne Hannah Gordon Brian Blessed Anthony Dogie Guy Scantlebury Sarah-Jane Holm Christopher Godwin
Theme music composer	Daryl Runswick
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original linguistic communication	English
No. of episodes	10
Production
Producer	Joe Waters
Running time	5 hours
Product company	BBC
Release
Original release	17 Oct 1987 (1987-10-17) - 19 December 1987 (1987-12-19)

My Family unit and Other Animals is a 1987 British Tv mini-series produced by the BBC and directed by Peter Hairdresser-Fleming.^[ane] ^[2] It is based on Gerald Durrell'south autobiographical volume by the aforementioned name, My Family and Other Animals , which tells nigh the time his family spent on the Greek Island of Corfu in 1935–1939.^[2] The serial consists of 10 episodes and was aired for the commencement fourth dimension between 17 October and 19 December 1987.^[ane]

Plot [ edit ]

The show tells the story of the extravagant Durrell family who, tired of the rainy and unhealthy English climate, move to the sun-drenched Greek isle of Corfu. The family consists of Gerry (young naturalist), his widowed mother (excellent cook), his eldest brother Larry (starting writer), some other brother Leslie (mad about guns and boats) and sister Margo (who suffers from acne). In Corfu they experience a lot of adventures and befriend many interesting people, including Spìro, a taxi driver who lived for many years in Chicago where he learned to speak broken English, and medico Theodore Stephanides, a polymath who, just like Gerry, adores nature and helps him explore the isle'south varied wildlife.

Filming and production [ edit ]

The £2 million production was a combined endeavour past the BBC'south Drama Department and Natural History Unit. Exterior scenes were filmed in Corfu in the summer of 1987. Information technology was intended that at that place should be at least 3 minutes of natural history footage for every half-hour episode, and 20 scorpions, 10 praying mantises, three giant toads, a number of snakes, tortoises, terrapins, barn owls and pigeons trained to trip the light fantastic toe had been brought to Corfu, together with 6 hundred frozen mice, as food for the snakes. At the end of July 1987, Gerald Durrell flew out to Corfu to be present for the last few days of the filming. He gave invaluable advice to the production team at the scripting stage, demanding the power of veto over but one thing – the casting of his mother. He felt Hannah Gordon fitted the neb perfectly:

She's absolutely superb. She picks up beautifully my mother's slightly flustered, not-quite-with-it-half-the-fourth dimension air, and not knowing, if the family were squabbling, whose side to have.^[2]

None of the family'southward 3 villas proved to exist suitable locations fifty years on, and substitutes had to be constitute (for the record, the Villa Fundana nigh Skripero stood in for the Strawberry-Pinkish Villa, the Curcumeli Villa at Afra was used for the interiors of the Daffodil-Yellowish Villa and the Bogdanos Villa nearly Pyrghi for the exteriors, while the Snow-White Villa was impersonated past Kyriakis' Business firm at Poulades).^[2]

To celebrate the end of the filming, Gerald Durrell sent out a home-fabricated invitation, decorated with his cartoon animals, for all concerned to come to a party and barbecue at the grand onetime Curcumeli mansion at Afra:

The Real Durrells invite the Other Durrells, Spiro, Theo and all who worked on the production (even the Producer). For the sake of the reputation of the BBC, please attempt to remain sober for at least fifteen minutes.^[2]

Cast [ edit ]

Darren Redmayne as Gerry (Gerald Durrell) – 10 episodes
Hannah Gordon equally Mrs. (Louisa) Durrell – 10 episodes
Brian Blessed as Spiro Halikiopoulos – ten episodes
Anthony Calf as Larry (Lawrence Durrell) – x episodes
Guy Scantlebury every bit Leslie Durrell – 10 episodes
Sarah-Jane Holm every bit Margo (Margaret Durrell) – 10 episodes
Christopher Godwin as Dr. Theodore Stephanides – seven episodes
John Normington as Kralefsky – three episodes
Dina Konsta every bit Lugaretzia – 3 episodes
Paul Rhys every bit George (Wilkinson) – 2 episodes
Angela Barlow equally Mrs. Harcum – 2 episodes
George Dialegmenos as Kosti the convict – 2 episodes
Tonis Giakovakis as Dr. Androuchelli – two episodes
Mihalis Giannatos equally Yani – 2 episodes
Edward Parsons as Mr. Harcum – two episodes
Christos Efthimiou as Theodosius – one episode
David Gant as Zatopec – ane episode
Bob Goody as Durant – i episode
Philip Herbert as Michael – one episode
Ayub Khan-Din every bit Yasha – one episode
Evelyn Laye equally Mrs. Kralefsky – i episode
Charmian May as Melanie, Countess de Torro – 1 episode
Cathy Potato as Jonquil – i episode
Stathis Psaltis as the Rose-Beetle Man – one episode
Nick Reding as Peter – 1 episode
Evagelia Samiotaki every bit Agathi – 1 episode
Hristos Valavanidis as the customs officeholder – i episode^[one]

Soundtrack [ edit ]

The soundtrack to the show was written by Daryl Runswick. It includes the following tracks:

Principal Theme
The Rose-Protrude Human being
Caterpillars and Spiders
Spiro and the Scorpions
Sleep and Cypresses
Gerry and Roger

Whistler: Ken Barrie.
Vocalist: Mary King.^[3]

See besides [ edit ]

Gerald Durrell's Corfu trilogy books:
- My Family and Other Animals (1956)
- Birds, Beasts, and Relatives (1969)
- The Garden of the Gods (1978)
My Family and Other Animals (2005), a idiot box picture show based on the book by the aforementioned proper name
The Durrells (2016–2022), an ITV drama television series loosely based on the Corfu trilogy

References [ edit ]

^ ^a ^b ^c My Family and Other Animals (1987 series) on IMDb.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Douglas Botting, Gerald Durrell: The Authorised Biography, HarperCollins, 1999, pp. 549–550.
^ Daryl Runswick, My Family & Other Animals.

External links [ edit ]