Catherine Zeta-Jones King Sharir (Thierry Lhermitte). The film was not well received at the box office, and according to de Broca's obituary in "The Daily Telegraph", the film "is best remembered for its enjoyable nude scenes". Greater success followed when she starred opposite David Jason and Pam Ferris in the British period comedy-drama television series "The Darling Buds of May" from 1991 to 1993. Adapted from H. E. Bates novel of the same name, Zeta-Jones played the role of the eldest daughter of a family living in the countryside in 1950s Britain. The series was the highest-rated television show in the country
H. E. Bates provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and this was exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled "Through the Woods" and "Down the River". Both have been reprinted numerous times. He discarded his first novel, written when he was in his late teens, but his second, and the first one to be published, "The Two Sisters", was inspired by one of his midnight walks, which took him to the small village of Farndish. There, late at night, he saw a light burning in a cottage window and it was this that triggered the