AllMovie

Author Gerald Durrell's childhood memoir comes to life in this Masterpiece Theater presentation starring Academy Award-nominee Imelda Staunton and detailing the journey of an eccentric family who seeks to escape the dreary English weather by making way to the sun-soaked Greek island of Corfu. Mrs. Durcell is a middle aged widow whose inability to lay down the law with her four adventuresome children has found her embarking on a series of strange adventures. Whether watching patiently as wild, avant-garde writer Larry rabble rouses with his unruly friends, ducking the buckshot of gun-obsessed Leslie, attempting to keep track of teen beauty Margot's bevy of boyfriends, or wondering at youngest son Gerald's amazing ability to bond with animals and insects, Mrs. Durcell is constantly playing catch-up with her energetic children in a household where "normal" is purely subjective and each new day brings a strange and wonderful adventure.