After first relocating to LA the star struggled to get a foothold in Hollywood at first, until director Steven Spielberg offered her a leading role in his then-upcoming production of The Mask of Zorro (1998). Like the original Darling Buds of May TV series, The Larkins will also be based on the popular novels by H.E. Bates.

His short story 'The Mill' featured as the extract in the first paper of the AQA English Language GCSE in 2019.

The Darling Buds of May — starring David Jason and Pam Ferris — was one of ITV’s highest rated television comedy-drama series, winning over fans and critics alike during its three-season run. Pop and Ma Larkin celebrate sex, youth, and vitality. In each novella in the series, Pop Larkin kisses, caresses, and pinches most of the women that he encounters. Ma Larkin expects this behaviour and approves of it. When told that Pop has kissed the middle-aged Miss Pilchester, she responds, "Do her good. Make her sleep all the sweeter." In 1931, he married Madge Cox, his sweetheart from the next road in his native Rushden. They moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent and bought an old granary and this together with an acre of garden they converted into a home. It was in this phase of his life that he found the inspiration for the Larkins series of novels -The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, etc. - and the Uncle Silas tales. Not surprisingly, these highly successful novels inspired television series that were immensely popular.

Yet as junk-dealer Pop patiently explains: nothing's ever that simple at the Larkins'. Mariette takes a shine to 'Charley' - as Pop calls him - and before long the family have introduced the uncomplaining inspector to the delights of country living: the lusty scents of wild flowers, the pleasures of a bottle of Dragon's Blood, cold cream dribbled over a bowl of strawberries and the sweet song of nightingales. In the first novella, Pop, Ma, and Mariette Larkin attempt to beguile Cedric Charlton, a timid and naive tax inspector, into abandoning his investigation of their finances. Their ultimate goal is for Mariette, who is secretly pregnant at the age of seventeen, to marry "Charley" and thus provide a father for her baby. Ultimately Mariette develops true feelings for Charley and they do become engaged. Charley is never told of the pregnancy, which turns out to be a false alarm. The characters (mostly Pop and Ma, the children aren’t explored much) are fun-loving but also kind-hearted and generous, sending away people that come to visit with food, such as nice cuts of pork from their pig they just slaughtered. They clearly have fun and enjoy life to the full, being involved in many things and engaging their children in the sort of lifestyle that would make most people envious. There’s also an element of the shifty too, as we never find out what Pop does and where his wads of cash come from! One thing was for certain – the second the Larkin’s got home and saw poor Charley standing there in their yard, he never, ever had a chance.

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I have always enjoyed British comedy and The Darling Buds of May was a comedy drama television series that aired for two years from 1991-1993. Set in Kent, where I myself lived for four years, the series followed the life of the Larkin family. It starred David Jason (from 'Only Fools and Horses' fame) as Pop Larkin, and Catherine Zeta-Jones ('The Mask of Zorro') played his eldest daughter Mariette. During World War II, he was commissioned into the Royal Air Force solely to write short stories. The Air Ministry realised that it might create more favorable public sentiment by emphasizing stories about the people fighting the war, rather than facts. The stories were published originally in the News Chronicle with the pseudonym "Flying Officer X". Later they were published in book form as The Greatest People in the World and Other Stories and How Sleep the Brave and Other Stories. His first financial success was Fair Stood the Wind for France. After a posting to the Far East, this was followed by two novels about Burma, The Purple Plain in 1947 and The Jacaranda Tree (published in 1949 [3]), and one set in India, The Scarlet Sword (published in 1950). [4] Herbert Ernest Bates CBE (16 May 1905– 29 January 1974), better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, as well as My Uncle Silas. We soon discover, Ma and Pop Larkin are unconcerned about late 1950s conventions: a baby is simply a wonderful addition to the Larkin paradise on Earth. The Larkins may be little devils when it comes to tax evasion, but they are the kindliest creatures on the planet who'd never force their daughter into a marriage where she'd not be happy with the choice of groom and they couldn't care less about conventions of marriage either. Having produced 6 children without the encumbrance of a marriage certificate, Ma and Pop Larking know they can easily manage a grandchild that comes from "the wrong side of the blanket".