Keeley Hawes says success of The Durrells came as a pleasant surprise

WITH smash hits such Line Of Duty, The Missing and Spooks to her name, Keeley Hawes knows a bit about telly success.

But the versatile star admits the hugely positive reception of The Durrells, back for a second series tonight, was a pleasant surprise.

“It was really thrilling,” says Keeley. “You just can’t tell. Sometimes you think you’re doing something that’s a sure-fire hit and it just disappears.

“Other times you think, ‘Crikey, how is this going to turn out?’ and people just love it. If there was a recipe for success people would follow it, you just don’t know how people are going to respond.

“The fact that people loved this and really took it to their hearts has been phenomenal.”

More than eight million viewers tuned in last time to the Corfu-set series based on the memoirs of Gerald Durrell. Keeley plays Louisa Durrell, who uprooted her unruly brood to the island in the 1930s.

Filming took place on the Greek island for eight weeks, with locals very much now knowing what was going on and British holidaymakers trying to find the locations.

“Lots of people were coming to us and saying, ‘We came here because we saw The Durrells,’ so that was really nice,” reveals Keeley.

Animals feature prominently once again, and she admits they could make for interesting – and long – filming days, especially for one house-set scene.

“We had a donkey, a goat and a chicken that jumps on to the table.

“You think it’s going to look fantastic, but 10 hours later we were still filming it.

“You can train an animal as much as you like, but you can’t train it to tell you when it needs the bathroom. So there’s lots of dustpans and brushes and it’s a rather smelly set.”

The Durrells, ITV, tonight, 8pm.