The first photo with Keeley Hawes in ITV's production of The Durrells has been released.  Filming has begun in Corfu for this 6 part television event.

The story focuses upon Louisa Durrell (Hawes) whose life is in meltdown. Her husband died years ago and his money has all but run out.

Her four unruly ‘children’ Larry, 21, played by Josh O’Connor (Ripper Street, Peaky Blinders), Leslie, 18 (newcomer Callum Woodhouse), Margo, 17, played by Daisy Waterstone (Silent Witness, Testament of Youth) and Gerry, 11, played by Milo Parker (Mr Holmes, Ghosthunters), are going off the rails.

Gerry is obsessed with animals and about to be thrown out of school; Larry is a would-be novelist but the worst estate agent in Bournemouth, and the middle two are hitting adulthood like a car-crash. It is the 1930s, and a woman’s options are limited.

Louisa realises she can carry on struggling, marry someone comfortably off but oppressive, or make a radical change and escape… from a domestic pressure-cooker, British weather, uptight Englishness and narrow horizons.

This is a rescue mission to somewhere her family can heal itself before it’s too late.  So, they uproot and move to Corfu…

You can see the photo HERE.

In this interview, Keeley Hawes talks about the expanding at exciting roles that are now available for mature women in acting.

Hawes, who turns 39 next month, said: “I think that you only have to look at our TV screens at the moment to see maybe there is a change happening, with Olivia Colman in Broadchurch, Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Honourable Woman and Gillian Anderson in The Fall. These aren’t 20-year-olds. These are women with a bit of life experience.”

Her success in roles more suited to mature women than flighty teenagers or sultry twentysomethings – such as the hard-bitten and explosively violent policewoman Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton in BBC2’s Line of Duty – means she is less minded to complain about the parts offered to older actresses.