New TV series The Durrells puts the beauty of Corfu back on the map

Through a classic trilogy of Corfu memoirs, late British nature writer and expatriate of Corfu, Gerald Durrell, is hailed as being responsible for putting Corfu on the tourist map, accountable for the tourist invasion of the 1970s and 80s. Now a new six-part ITV drama, The Durrells, based on Gerald Durrell’s memoirs of his life on Corfu, is putting the beautiful Greek island back on the public pedestal it deserves.

Set in 1935, the drama is centred on the Durrell family and their life on the Greek island. Louisa Durrell’s husband had died several years earlier and the money he left the family is almost gone. With her four children going off the rails, Louisa has a decision to make – continue to struggle, marry someone wealthy but oppressive or make a radical escape… Mrs Durrell decides on the latter and the family uproot to Corfu…

As the Daily Mail writes about what it refers to as a “sumptuous Sunday night extravaganza”, Gerald’s experiences of Corfu that were fictionalised into a hit book ‘My Family and Other Animals’, that became an immediate success in 1956 and has never been out print since, conveys a dream world where he roams free, “swimming and sailing with no supervision.”

To mark the arrival of the new TV series, The Telegraph republished an article from 1999, titled ‘In Search of Durrell’s Corfu’. Author Paul Mansfield, described certain parts of Corfu as a “leafy green peace”, a world that has remained unchanged since the Durrell family made it their home in the 1930s.

Mansfield writes about the diverse flora and fauna that remain on the island today, which was of course one of Gerald’s greatest passions.

“For Gerald, Corfu’s mountainous interior was a giant playground in which he was free to roam. It remains a beautiful garden today, rich in wildlife and flora, threaded by ancient walking trails,” wrote Mansfield.

In an attempt to find the Gerald Durrell’s favourite Corfu haunts, the author speaks of the landscape to the north of Barbati, dominated by “deep green hills, criss-crossed by valleys lined with cypresses,” with butterflies “flitted among the trees, and the “occasional splash of colour from a wild rose of pyramid orchid.”

As you’ll see for yourself if you watch the TV series, Corfu remains a truly beautiful island and it’s easy to understand why Gerald Durrell fell in love with Corfu and why it became the source of inspiration for his timeless memoirs.