Lee Durrell: “The magical island seen afresh, by Gerald”

I first met Lee Durrell in the most fitting place: her large, old house set deep in the forest. The lush greenery surrounding it could easily evoke a twist on Elytis’s famous lines about the blue of the Aegean—only here, it belongs to Corfu, and to Lee, who has tied her life closely and permanently to nature.

My visit wasn’t by chance. The reason was the stage production of My Family and Other Animals, coming to Corfu for four performances this September. The play is based on the beloved book of the same title by her husband, Gerald Durrell, and will be performed in the place he loved most—Corfu—marking the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The unpretentious kindness and warm hospitality of Lee and her partner, Colin, the exquisite dinner Colin prepared on the balcony framed by the untamed greenery of Corfu’s landscape, their books, their dogs and cats—all created the perfect setting for our interview. The conversation flowed naturally, just as freely as Lee lived alongside Gerald and nature, and as freely as she came to love Corfu, the place where it all began…

Gerald, Lee Durrell, and Corfu

• Gerry was just ten years old when he arrived in Corfu. That single moment, in that unique corner of the world, would shape the course of his entire life. How would you describe the magical hold Corfu had on the heart and imagination of that ten-year-old boy?

“Gerry was born in India, and although he left when he was only two, the sights, sounds, smells, and vibrant colours of the country left a deep impression on him. He often said that his life in England, from ages two to ten, was dull and colourless, and that arriving in Corfu was like Dorothy stepping into the colourful world of Oz! Corfu not only rekindled his memories of India but also fueled his love for animals and his passion for nature—elements that defined his entire life.”

• Through his book My Family and Other Animals and the TV series The Durrells, the public came to know Gerald, Dr. Stefanides, and the family very well. But what happened in Gerald’s life after the outbreak of World War II, when the family left the island, and how did his love for nature grow into something so significant as the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust?

“At fifteen, Gerry already knew he wanted to dedicate his life to animals. He first worked in a pet shop in London and then at Whipsnade Zoo, gaining experience with larger animals than those he had known in Corfu, such as lions and giraffes.

He funded his first expedition with a small inheritance, travelling to British Cameroon, where he collected animals and sold them to British zoos to finance his next expedition—and hopefully begin raising money to establish his own zoo. However, he was disappointed by the zoos of the time, which were simply menageries for entertainment and profit, with no concern for species conservation. He decided, instead, to create a zoo dedicated to saving animals from extinction.

His writing career began in the early 1950s, which allowed him to save enough money to make his dream a reality. After a challenging search for a suitable location in England, he found the perfect spot in Jersey, an island in the English Channel, which welcomed him and his animals warmly.

Jersey Zoo opened in 1959, and in 1963 the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust was founded—a nonprofit organisation to manage the zoo and implement Gerald’s philosophy of species conservation worldwide. The organisation was renamed in his honour as the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in 1999.

Today, Jersey Zoo and the Trust save dozens of rare species, have trained thousands of young scientists around the world, and run conservation programmes in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Caribbean, and the Galápagos. It’s wonderful that it all began in Corfu, the place that inspired little Gerry to dedicate his life to animals.”

• In 1960, Gerald returned to Corfu, exploring the town and countryside with his local friends, though he worried about changes brought by tourism. By 1983, when Lee met him, he wanted to show her his favourite place.

“For me, it was love at first sight! The pages of Gerry’s enchanting books came alive as he showed me the olive groves he knew as a child, the cypress forests, the meadows with wildflowers, and the creatures that inhabited them. We were here filming the first episode of a TV series we wrote together, The Amateur Naturalist, because Gerry wanted the series to start in Corfu, where his mentor, Dr. Theodore Stefanides, had taught him so much about the island’s natural history. For this series, we travelled the world—from South Africa to Scotland and from Panama to France—but Corfu remained forever my favourite filming location.”

• Lee, you who have so completely intertwined your life with Gerald and with animals, did you have a connection with nature beforehand?

“Absolutely. Like young Gerry, I grew up surrounded by pets. I remember my grandfather making a ‘frog box’ when I was just three, and from then on I had an endless parade of parakeets, guinea pigs, dogs, and turtles, until I went to university. There I studied animal behaviour and spent two years in Madagascar conducting doctoral research on forest animal communication. The first Gerald Durrell book I read was by the light of a paraffin lamp in the attic of a missionary house where I lived—I was hooked! I met Gerald a few years later, and, you know, it’s not every day you meet your hero, let alone marry him!”

• You now spend much of your time here. What keeps you connected to Corfu?

“I always felt a bond with Corfu through Gerry’s books. After that first visit, I returned with Gerry only once. We stayed in an old villa by the sea in beautiful Barbati, long before it became a tourist destination.

From the early 2000s, I came back frequently to participate, with friends, in ‘Gerald Durrell Week,’ when people from around the world would follow in Gerry’s footsteps. We invited experts on plants, butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, and birds of Corfu, and had a wonderful time exploring the countryside and studying the island’s natural history.

In 2018, my partner Colin and I decided to buy an old house here. We had planned to live mainly in Jersey (in my apartment inside Jersey Zoo) and visit Corfu a few times a year, but the pandemic changed everything. We spent eighteen months here in lockdown, during which we ‘adopted’ two dogs and three cats! Now I spend most of my time here, caring for the animals, the garden, and the old house, returning to Jersey only a few times a year. As a good friend once said about Corfu, ‘Why would I want to leave Paradise?’”

The Theatrical Production in Corfu

• We are thrilled that My Family and Other Animals is coming to Corfu! Has it been staged before?

“Yes, we performed it in Corfu in 2007 for five or six shows, some in schools. The play was adapted for the stage by Daniel Austin, director of the Jersey Arts Centre, in 2006 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication. The production toured local schools, with 60–70 performances. Daniel and I are good friends, and together we decided that the play should return to Corfu in 2025, the year Gerald Durrell would have turned 100.”

• We imagine that the audience will be very large and that one performance might not be enough! How many performances will there be?

“There will be four: three at the renovated Mon Repos Theatre and one in the village of Danilia, where much of the TV series The Durrells was filmed.”

• Why do you work so passionately to bring this play to Corfu, and for free?

“I hope the play will inspire the people of Corfu, especially children, to see their magical island with new eyes—the eyes of Gerald Durrell, who loved it so deeply. I hope they will appreciate their natural heritage and want to protect it. In short, to save Paradise!”

Lee, we are looking forward to seeing My Family and Other Animals at the theatre on September 9, 10, 11, and 12 in Corfu.

Performance Dates in Corfu (Admission Free)

• September 10, 20:00 – Rena Vlachopoulou Theatre (Mon Repos)

• September 11, 20:00 – Danilia Village

• September 12, 20:00 – Rena Vlachopoulou Theatre (Mon Repos)

The first performance at Mon Repos is in collaboration with the Corfu Literary Festival, taking place for the eighth year from September 8–14. The festival, under the direction of Annabel Louvrou and Alex Preston, is a celebration of the arts amidst the island’s autumnal beauty, featuring writers, scholars, and thinkers from Greece and abroad—including Lee Durrell—discussing literature, nature, history, and politics in carefully chosen locations across the island.

EN THE MAGAZINE, August 2025

by Aliki Katsarou