The Biographical Comedy Hidden Gem You Can Find On Amazon
Ready for an escape to the Mediterranean? Thanks to Amazon Prime, you won't need a passport or money for airfare. You can currently find the sun-dappled dramedy ITV series "The Durrells in Corfu" (or just "The Durrells" depending on where you're watching) available to stream in the Prime library.
Set in the 1930s, the series opens with the British Durrell family having stumbled onto hard times. The death of her husband has left Louisa Durrell (Keeley Hawes) both emotionally and financially distressed. To get her family out of this funk, she decides to move herself and her four children — Larry (Josh O'Connor of "The Crown"), Margo (Daisy Waterstone), Leslie (Callum Woodhouse), and Gerry (Milo Parker) — to the Greek island of Corfu.
While Corfu provides the eccentric family with a more affordable cost of living and gorgeous Mediterranean weather, it also comes with its own set of challenges. There's the lack of electricity, ample cultural conflicts, and the fact that many of the family's problems aren't ones that can be solved with a simple change of scenery. Nonetheless, during their time on the island, the family learns that living in paradise also has its perks.
The series was inspired by the real-life Durrell family, whose adventures on Corfu were chronicled in a trilogy of books by Gerald Durrell, the first of which was 1956's "My Family and Other Animals." As with many properties based on real people, the actual lives of the various Durrell family members were often as (or more) fabulous than their fictional counterparts.
The exciting lives of the actual Durrell family
"The Durrells in Corfu" sets up each of the four Durrell children with their own distinct storylines and personalities. There's rugged and manly Leslie, sweet and silly Margo, bon-vivant novelist Larry, and young Gerry, the free-spirited animal lover. While the series does distill each of the characters down to a manageable set of characteristics, it also captures some essential truths about their real-life counterparts.
Gerry, whose memoirs helped kick off the public's fascination with the family, became known later in life as the pioneering conservationist Gerald Durrell. In addition to writing a number of books on the natural world, he also founded the Jersey Zoological Park in Great Britain, which is known for its focus on breeding rare and endangered species of animals and counts Henry Cavill among its supporters (via Encyclopedia Britannica).
On the series, Larry Durrell is portrayed as a struggling novelist who does begin to find success, as well as a friendship with famed writer Henry Miller. That's not far from the actual trajectory of his life. The eldest Durrell sibling went on to publish over a dozen novels, including his celebrated series known as "The Alexandria Quartet." He also maintained a decades-long friendship with Miller (via International Lawrence Durrell Society).
While not as prolific a writer as her brothers, Margo Durrell did publish a memoir titled "Whatever Happened to Margo?" Meanwhile, of the four siblings, Leslie was the one who kept the lowest public profile.
You can get a taste of this fascinating family by watching "The Durrells in Corfu," now streaming on Amazon Prime.