The first episode of The Darling Buds of May drew an audience of more than 18 million viewers – a record for a debut episode that still stands.
More remarkably, it held that audience throughout the entire first series. ITV had an unequivocal hit on its hands, and there was no hesitation in commissioning series two and three.
But before any of that could happen, we had to find our Mariette.
We expected to be inundated with suitable young actresses for the role of the Larkins’ eldest daughter. We were, but none quite lived up to our expectations.
At the time, drama schools were producing talented and interesting performers, but what we needed was something more specific. We needed a captivating 18-year-old, effortlessly sensual yet innocent, who audiences of all ages would adore.
H.E. Bates, who wrote The Darling Buds of May books in the 1950s, described Mariette as generous, warm-hearted and rather liberal with her affections. Yet her beauty and innocence rendered it entirely forgivable. Finding someone who could embody that paradox was no small task.
Then, by sheer luck, we did.
My wife and I had recently seen 42nd Street in the West End, where a striking dark-haired dancer had stepped up to understudy the lead, Peggy Sawyer. She was not yet a seasoned actress, but she had something unmistakable – an instinctive Mariette quality.
A few days later, we had to re-audition our two final candidates for the role. As I walked through reception at the YTV offices in Bloomsbury Square, London, I found myself sitting opposite a stunning young woman in a summery yellow dress.
She looked familiar, but I could not quite place her at the time.
Upstairs, neither of the actresses convinced. As the casting director suggested we choose between them, I mentioned the girl downstairs. He called reception and was told she was about to leave, having auditioned for a different show entirely.
“Stop her,” he said. “Send her up.”
Moments later, she entered, smiled, answered a few questions and left as swiftly as she had come.
“Well,” said the casting director, “I think we have our Mariette.”
“Yes,” said the director, “but can she act?”
“It doesn’t matter,” came the reply in unison from three middle-aged men in complete agreement.
That young woman was Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Once we started filming, it quickly became clear that Catherine had more than beauty and presence. The first few days on set had that polite, watchful atmosphere that often comes with a new cast finding its rhythm.
Then came a scene with David Jason.
David shifted the timing just enough to see what she would do. A fractional pause appeared where none had been before. Catherine did not hurry. She did not fill it. She simply stayed with him and delivered her line cleanly.
After the take, someone said quietly: “She’s rather good.”
David, without looking up, replied: “Yes… shame. She won’t be here long. She’s already on her way to Hollywood.”
He was right, of course.
The rest of the casting came together more straightforwardly. Pop and Ma Larkin, the heart of what I always saw as an unapologetically romantic series, proved relatively simple.
ITV suggested David Jason. At the time, he was best known for the BBC’s Only Fools and Horses, but had moved to ITV for A Bit of a Do. ITV were keen to keep him and put him forward for Pop. He accepted immediately.
We paired him with the wonderful Pam Ferris as Ma – an inspired combination – and Philip Franks was a natural choice for Charley, the earnest tax inspector.
David’s humour shaped the atmosphere from the start. As executive producer, I did not always need to be on set, but I got a very real sense of what he was like to work with. In Darling Buds, he warmed the room. In A Touch of Frost, he kept it from freezing solid. In both cases, his humour was not about stealing attention. It was about making everyone else just that little bit better.
On Darling Buds, even the long afternoons became material. By mid-afternoon one day, the food had become somewhat theoretical. David picked up a piece of chicken, turned it over slowly and said to no one in particular: “This chicken’s had a longer career than I have.”
The Kent countryside also did its best to upstage us.
Flies were everywhere – organised and clearly unionised. In the middle of a take, one landed squarely in front of David. He watched it, entirely in character as Pop Larkin, then flicked it away.
“Lovely,” he said.
Then, almost inaudibly: “Strong supporting cast.”
Once we had the first series in the can, we turned our attention to the music. A shortlist of experienced television composers was invited to submit ideas and, as one of the producers, I heard them first.
They were all perfectly competent, and often catchy, but something felt amiss. They leaned heavily into the rural, bucolic setting.
For me, The Darling Buds of May was, above all, a love story. Not only the blossoming romance between Mariette and Charley, but the enduring, deeply felt affection between Pop and Ma.
So, quietly, I submitted an idea of my own anonymously. It was a song, with lyrics drawn directly from Bates’s novels. All submissions were presented, without attribution, to ITV’s executive producer for selection.
The piece, called Perfick, went on to win an Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme – a small but cherished trophy that still sits heavily on my piano. You may recognise the tune, though perhaps not the words.
The full song, complete with lyrics, was later recorded by David Jason for a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Bates’s final book, A Little of What You Fancy – a project we never quite managed to bring to television.
My work with David continued through A Touch of Frost, although that began in a very different way.
It took us a while to locate the Frost books by Rodney Wingfield, on which the television series was based. I sent them by post to the Maldives, where David was enjoying a diving holiday. In those days, we had an old-style answering machine that recorded only one or two minutes at a time.
By the time we got home, the machine was full. It had taken David four separate messages to say how much he loved the character.
That told us everything we needed to know.
The conditions on Frost were not always glamorous. Somewhere around two in the morning, while we were filming a night scene, David looked out over the set and said: “I’m sure I had a plan at some point.”
A pause.
“Ah, yes – I could have been a plumber.”
That, for me, was David. He could carry two very different national hits, but he never carried himself like a star. He kept people relaxed, alert and entertained, and made everyone around him just that little bit better.
Pip Burley is a writer, producer, composer and broadcaster whose career has spanned television, theatre, music, advertising, marketing and publishing. He founded Excelsior, the production company behind some of British television’s best-loved dramas. Its credits include The Darling Buds of May, starring David Jason and launching the career of Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Touch of Frost, also starring David Jason, and My Uncle Silas, starring Albert Finney.
Alongside his television work, Burley has had a long association with theatre as a writer, director and producer. He served as Artistic and Festival Director for the National Trust, produced work at the Edinburgh Festival, and has written and directed four plays. He also created the stage adaptation of The Slipper and the Rose, which has been performed internationally. Burley composed much of the music for The Darling Buds of May in 1992, including its theme tune, for which he received an Ivor Novello Award.
He is also an author. His first book, Views from the Back of a Taxi, was published in 2007, followed by the semi-autobiographical Briefest Encounters in 2016. Under the pen name Philip G Walsh, he writes the Harmony Legacy series, which includes Villa Harmony and Harmony’s Smile. The third novel in the series, Go, Harmony!, is out now. Burley has been involved with Variety, the Children’s Charity, formerly the Variety Club of Great Britain, since 1990, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.
Go, Harmony! is available now on Amazon, in paperback and eBook formats.
Main Image: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. CREDIT: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).