Netflix’s From Scratch was only released last Friday (21st October), but already the tragic story has captivated viewers’ attention, soaring into the streamer’s top 10 TV chart.
The eight-episode romantic drama stars Zoe Saldaña as American Amy Wheeler who moves to Italy to study abroad. There, she falls head over heels for Sicilian chef Lino (Eugenio Mastrandrea) and begins to enjoy an idyllic existence of good food, great company and stunning seaside backdrops.
But their love story becomes even more surprising and ever-changing than they ever could have imagined when Lino falls ill – and the newlyweds are left struggling to unite their families into a cross-country support system.
Scratch is certainly an emotional watch, but perhaps the most tragic thing about the series is that it is adapted from actress and author Tembi Locke’s 2019 memoir of the same name, which tells the tragic true story of her travels in Italy, her romance with Saro Gullo, and his subsequent diagnosis of a rare form of cancer and death in 2012.
Tembi co-created the series with her sister, Attica Locke. Here’s everything you need to know about the true story behind Netflix’s From Scratch.
Heartbreaking true story behind moving Netflix drama From Scratch
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Though the characters’ names have been changed for the Netflix adaptation (more on this below), the show does stay true to Tembi’s memoir.
Like Amy in From Scratch, Tembi moved to Italy after graduating high school, where she fell first laid eyes on Gullo and it was love at first sight.
However, the couple faced a number of obstacles, as is shown in the series, with Tembi’s family criticising her decision to study abroad, and Gullo’s family disapproving of his decision to wed a black American woman from Texas.
Tembi moved back to the US while Gullo remained in Florence, but the pair later reunited in New York and then moved to Los Angeles together, where they got married in 1995.
However, in 2002, Saro was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called leiomyosarcoma.
After his diagnosis, the couple adopted a child together and enjoyed co-parenting but, after ten years of treatment, Gullo passed away in 2012.
The memoir chronicles three summers Tembi spent in Sicily with her daughter after Gullo’s death, as the grief-stricken pair tried to navigate life without him.
Staying true to this aspect of the memoir, From Scratch’s finale sees Amy fulfil Lino’s final wishes and return to Sicily, where she bonds with his family, who are also in a deep state of grief, and eventually begins to find peace and feel at home.
What are the differences between the Netflix show and the memoir?
While the show largely stays true to the memoir, most of the characters’ names have been changed.
Tembi previously said she hoped this decision would create a “psychic distance” between the real-life people and their fictional counterpoints on screen.
“We had fun creating these alternate versions of us,” she told Today.
Tembi and Saro’s daughter Zoela picked her on-screen name Idalia, while Attica chose to be named Zora after writer Zora Neale Hurston.
Meanwhile, Amy in the show is short for the South African name Amahle.
Tembi added: “Amy’s name was a wink and a nod to having an Afrocentric name and the ways in which it changes. But her parents always call her Amahle.”
From Scratch is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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