My Family and Other Animals (2005)

An English family relocates to sunny Greece four years before WWII.

Director:

Sheree Folkson

Writers:

Gerald Durrell (book), Simon Nye

Stars:

Eugene Simon, Imelda Staunton, Chris Langham

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eugene Simon	...	Gerald Durrell
Imelda Staunton	...	Mother
Chris Langham	...	Theodore Stephanides
Omid Djalili	...	Spiro
Matthew Goode	...	Larry Durrell
Russell Tovey	...	Leslie Durrell
Tamzin Merchant	...	Margot Durrell
Kostas Tziotakis	...	Customs Officer
Mihalis Giannatos	...	Porter / Waiter (as Michalis Giannatos)
Olga Tournaki	...	Agathi
Dimitris Kaberidis	...	Rose-Beetle Man
David Armand	...	George - the tutor
Antonis Antoniou	...	Yani
George Couyas	...	Turkish Boyfriend
Efi Papatheodorou	...	Lugaretsia - housekeeper

Storyline

Feeling the depressing effects of a gloomy English summer, the Durrell family decides to pack up and move to the Greek island of Corfu in 1935. Lead by their widowed mother, 13-year old future naturalist Gerald Durrell, his two older brothers and older sister move into a series of villas. Gerald indulges his passion for nature by filling his room with local fauna, while his brothers fill their time with writing or hunting and his sister sunbathes and flirts.

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Plot Keywords:

naturalist | greek island | corfu | snail | family relationships | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

BBC [UK] PBS [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Mi familia y otros animales

Filming Locations:

Corfu, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),WGBH

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
Larry Durrell: Why do we put up with this bloody climate? I mean, look at us: Gerry can't speak,
Gerald Durrell: Uh?
Larry Durrell: Lesley can't hear.
Leslie Durrell: What?
Larry Durrell: Margot's got a face like a plate of red porridge.
Margot Durrell: Shut up.
Larry Durrell: Mother's beginning to look like an Irish washerwoman.
Mother: I am not.
Larry Durrell: It's August. We need sunshine.
[...]

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Connections

Version of My Family and Other Animals (1987)

User Reviews

A lovely and interesting story, excellently adapted and presented for TV

A favourite story of mine for very many years this translation into a TV movie is sensitively and accurately adapted, much of the dialogue is exactly as Gerald Durrell wrote it. If only the TV writers, producers, directors would do as well with so many other sadly failing efforts! The actors in this are very well chosen and give faithful and often understated performances. In particular the lad playing Gerald is very good indeed, but I only single him out from a splendid ensemble effort because of his youth. If I had to make a criticism it would be that the character of Spiro was somewhat more restrained than I had envisaged from the book. All in all, a little gem. It was screened by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday 8th. April 2007.