I admittedly haven't read the books, but I've got to say, while I have enjoyed many Masterpiece offerings, this series was very hard to like. The family disfuntional dynamics became very tiring. They really are a bunch of twits and completely unlikable. Even the little boy who supposedly "loves animals" spends his time collecting creatures from the wild and subjecting them to imprisonment in bottles, cages and boxes. There's nothing about this show to like outside of the setting. If you enjoy shows about people, creatures and settings , I would highly recommend All Creatures Great and Small. But avoid this terrible show all together.