New romance and old ghosts highlight a return visit to the Greek isles when Season 2 of The Durrells in Corfu debuts Sunday.
A spooky séance in wild weather is just one of the many adventures, along with otter breeding, a cricket showdown, and the multi-generational search for romance, as the Masterpiece series returns with six new episodes.
The Durrells in Corfu airs at 7 p.m. Sundays from Oct. 15 to Nov. 19 on Panhandle PBS.
Inspired by the memoirs of Gerald Durrell, The Durrells in Corfu stars Keeley Hawes as Louisa Durrell, the harried widowed mother of a brood of recalcitrant children (this season ages 12 to 22). Louisa moves the floundering family from England to Corfu in the mid 1930s to recharge their lives — hers included.
Milo Parker plays Gerry, the wildlife-obsessed youngest, who later penned his reminiscences of the family’s unusual exploits. Daisy Waterstone is the man-mad teen, Margo, this season trying to kindle romance with a monk. Callum Woodhouse is the hunter-turned-distiller-turned-fashion-photographer, Leslie. And Josh O'Connor is literary Larry, who in real life went on to make a name for himself as the bohemian novelist Lawrence Durrell.
Also back this season is the family’s guardian angel on the island, the everresourceful Spiro, played by Alexis Georgoulis. Yorgos Karamihos returns as Gerry’s fellow fauna fanatic, Dr. Theo Stephanides. And screen legend Leslie Caron (An American in Paris, Gigi) reprises her cameo role as the island’s redoubtable Countess Mavrodaki.
The Durrells in Corfu Season 2 finds the family in dire financial straits, as usual. They have a new landlady, Vasilia, an island beauty who holds a mysterious grudge against Louisa and insists on prompt payment of the rent. Desperate to come up with the cash, Louisa embarks on a bold strategy: sell homemade British delicacies at the village market. The locals are just beginning to develop a taste for scotch eggs and spotted dick, when Vasilia engineers a public health crisis.
Meanwhile, Louisa is being courted by handsome British ex-pat Hugh (Daniel Lapaine, Zero Dark Thirty), who has an olive press, drives a red MG, and wants to sweep her back to England. Margo and Larry also get romantic partners, as do Gerry’s otters. The plot thickens when Louisa’s dead husband gets back in touch, and an international incident threatens when the expats and Greeks organize a “friendly” cricket match.
The new season has already garnered lavish praise. During the recent UK broadcast, The Telegraph (London) was delighted to find that “Corfu was still sun-drenched, the titular family of lovable eccentrics remained in perpetual chaos and … the tone was, as before, one of warm nostalgia and deep, abiding silliness.” And The Guardian (London) hailed Season 2 as “sweet, and charming, and pretty, and funny…. [It’s] that rather nice thing: Sunday night family drama entertainment.”
