My Family and Other Animals (TV)

Eugene Simon stars as young naturalist Gerald Durrell and Imelda Staunton as his mother, in an adaptation of this famous autobiography. A move to sunny Corfu in the 1930s by the eccentric Durrell family begins a lifetime's fascination with the animal kingdom for young Gerald. The rag-tag family, helped out by larger-than-life taxi driver Spiro (Omid Djalili) move through a succession of brightly coloured villas. While nature-obsessed Gerald explores Corfu's marine and insect life, his sister Margo (Tamzin Merchant) fights off the advances of would-be suitors, and his shooting mad brother Leslie (Russell Tovey) blasts the island's bird life to smithereens. Meanwhile, Gerald's eldest brother, overbearing intellectual Larry (Matthew Goode), invites a stream of artistic types to stay. My Family And Other Animals was adapted from Gerald Durrell's bestselling book by Simon Nye, whose previous credits include Men Behaving Badly and Pride. It's directed by Casanova's Sheree Folkson.