ITV’s ‘The Durrells’ criticised after turning gay character straight for TV
By Ben Kelly
ITV drama The Durrells has come under fire for making a gay character straight in the television adaptation of Gerard Durrell’s autobiographical book series.
The show is based on the three books by the author documenting his family’s time in Corfu in the 1930s, when his mother Louise moved to the Greek island after her home life in Bournemouth fell apart.
But when on Sunday night’s episode of the ITV drama the hunky character of Sven (Ulric von der Esch), struck up a romance with Louise (Keeley Hawes), fans of the series were were quick to point out that his character had been explicitly gay in the original books.
The Sun reports that in the original novel Fillets of Plaice, Sven says of Louisa: “She’s so beautiful, in fact, it almost makes me wish I weren’t a homosexual.”
ITV have now been accused of ‘straight-washing’ the character for a mainstream television audience.
Sven’s gay in the book, isn’t he? Why alter that? #TheDurrells
— Louisa Turner (@LouisaTurner) April 24, 2016
Why have they turned Sven straight when character in the books in gay? It’s 2016 – why straightwash #TheDurrells?
— Dr Rich Boden FLS (@BodenLab) April 24, 2016
about the changes to Sven’s sexuality ahead of the episode’s broadcast, show star Keeley Hawes said: “I’m absolutely fine with the changes – they liven things up a bit. They’re also completely necessary because some things simply wouldn’t translate from the books to a TV show.”
Meanwhile, ITV said in a statement: “The series is loosely based on Gerald Durrell’s books and is not intended to be true to life.
“Characters originally included have been adapted and new characters have been created. We’ve been thrilled with the response from viewers.”
Despite the controversy the show has been a roaring success for the channel, and has already been picked up for a second season.
The Durrells continues Sunday evenings at 8pm on ITV.
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