The Darling Buds of May (novel) film "The Mating Game" in 1959. ITV produced a television series based on the novel and its sequels, "The Darling Buds of May", which ran from 1991 to 1993. The Darling Buds of May (novel) The Darling Buds of May is a novella by British writer H. E. Bates, first published in 1958. It was the first of a series of five books about the Larkins, a rural family from Kent. Pop and Ma Larkin and their many children take joy in nature, each other's company, and almost constant feasts. Their only income is through selling scrap, picking strawberries, and
The Darling Buds of May (TV series) Originally a short story, he expanded it into a novel, followed by a further four books, the titles of the first four of which were used as episode titles for the TV series: The first novel in the series was originally adapted to the screen in 1959 as "The Mating Game", starring Debbie Reynolds and Tony Randall as Mariette and Charley. The fifth novel, "A Little of What You Fancy?", was never adapted for television, but it was adapted into a six-part series by Eric Pringle for BBC Radio, with Jason and Ferris reprising their roles, first airing in February