ITV - Sunday
He may be happy-go-lucky and ever willing to help others, but Pop Larkin can’t resist a lucrative deal – especially when he’s ripping off someone he thinks feels superior. And this is what he does to new village residents, the Jerebohms.
Having bought dilapidated Bluff Court with plans to tear it down, rebuild it and hopefully provide a home for Mariette and Charley when they return from their travels, he’s approached by glamorous Pinkie, who says she and her husband, Cuthbert, have been looking for a country house for them and their two children, and that they think it’s perfect…
Pop makes them pay over the odds for the place, and when they realise the house is riddled with woodworm, the Jerebohms are determined to get their revenge.
‘Pop thinks Pinkie is very attractive,’ says Bradley Walsh, 62, who plays the lovable rogue. ‘He has always had an eye for the ladies and seems to think he can win her over. But she turns out to be very manipulative and he falls into her trap, which leads to a situation that is very damaging to the Larkins, especially Pop.
‘That story is the subcontext this time. It mainly focuses on the spreading of wings, as Primrose is leaving school and taking the place of Mariette before her, as the young woman who’s blossoming and gets a love interest.’
It comes in the form of hunky Reverend Candy (Maxim Ays, Sanditon), who has been sent to help Peter Davison’s rude Vicar.
‘Pop and Ma want to keep all their family around them, and I understand that because dads also feel that empty-nest syndrome and it’s heart-breaking,’ says Bradley. ‘But you have to let kids spread their wings.’
