'The Larkins' Will Return for Season 2 But Life in Littlechurch Will Look a Bit Different

Several months after it last aired an episode, ITV announced that its heartwarming series The Larkins will officially return for a second season. The show's first outing was a reasonably decent ratings hit for the U.K. network, averaging around 4 million viewers an episode, with even more tuning in for the drama's festive special over the holidays. (Not surprising, given that The Larkins was built in a lab to spawn very special holiday installments, with its focus on the all-important bonds of family, its vintage rustic feel, love of excessive food and drink, and feel-good, old-fashioned charm.)

The series is a new adaptation of the classic family drama The Darling Buds of May, which was a huge hit when it originally premiered thirty years ago. A bucolic 1950s-set tale of life in the Kentish countryside based on H.E. Bates's novels, it follows the adventures of the sprawling Larkin clan as they navigate family issues, financial struggles, and the occasionally uncomfortable politics of life in their rural village town.

Bradley Walsh (Doctor Who) and Joann Scanlan (The Thick of It) star as Pa and Ma Larkin, who must wrangle their six children (both natural and adopted), all while Pa finds himself involved in all manner of complicated schemes. Happily, things almost always manage to turn out for the best.