All Creatures Great And Small is getting a reboot, and all your favourites will be there

All Creatures Great And Small, set in a vets’ practice in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s, was one of the best-loved series of the last century.

It attracted audiences of more than 18 million on BBC1 in the 70s and 80s, and made stars of younger cast members Christopher Timothy, in the lead role of James Herriot, and Peter Davison as Tristan Farnon, who appeared alongside the established Robert Hardy.

Now it’s time for a new generation of actors to bring to life the roles first created by vet Alf Wight, writing under the pseudonym of James Herriot, in his series of books launched 50 years ago.

Fans of the original series will be comforted to learn that much is unchanged in this new version on Channel 5.

Siegfried remains the senior figure at Skeldale House Surgery, ably assisted by James, housekeeper Mrs Hall and Tristan. Mrs Pumphrey, owner of pampered Pekingese Tricki Woo and played now by Dame Diana Rigg, returns, as does Helen Alderson, the farmer who became James Herriot’s wife.

Some things haven’t made the leap – for example, unlike the stars of the original, the new actors will not have to put their hands up cows’ bottoms! Prosthetics will instead be used for ‘intimate’ scenes, says Sam West, who plays Siegfried.

‘Legislation has quite rightly changed and the question now asked is – does the cow actually need such an examination?’

Fans can look forward to six episodes with a Christmas special to follow, but to whet appetites, here’s our guide to the new series… 

TOWN THAT’S GONE BACK IN TIME

The new series was filmed in the Yorkshire Dales with the market town of Grassington doubling as Darrowby, the fictional setting for the drama.

According to producer Richard Burrell, ‘It was easy to find farms and fields that look pretty much the same as they would have done in the 1930s, but finding that iconic town was not so easy. But the moment I saw Grassington, I thought, “This is it.”’ 

Changes had to be made in the town centre, and the real Devonshire Inn became James and the gang’s favourite watering hole The Drovers Arms.

The Stripey Badger bookshop, coffee shop and kitchen were transformed into the grocery store GF Endleby. 

THE NEW WHO’S WHO  

The role of cranky Siegfried Farnon is taken by Sam West, 54 – and he wasn’t sure he’d get a part that was so comedic.

‘I’d done ten years of documentary voiceovers, often about Nazis, and my dad [the actor Timothy West] said he thought people may have become distracted by the seriousness of my voice.’

Nicholas Ralph, the 30-year-old Scot who brings James Herriot to the screen, is new to TV, having spent his career on stage, but Callum Woodhouse, 26, who takes on Tristan Farnon, can draw on his experience from ITV’s The Durrells, where he played Leslie.

Anna Madeley, 44, (Mrs Hall) is best known as Miss Ravillious in ITV’s Mr Selfridge and ex-Hollyoaks actress Rachel Shenton, 32, is cast as Helen Alderson. 

DON’T MIND US, WE’RE JUST HONKING AND WAVING

Like original stars Peter Davison and Christopher Timothy, the new cast can dine out on stories of animal misbehaviour.

Anna Madeley (Mrs Hall) reports that one cat kept doing backflips and Rachel Shenton (Helen) says, ‘We had some vocal geese. When the director shouted, “Action!”, they’d start shouting, so desperate were they for their five minutes of fame!’

Happily, Pekingese Derek who plays Tricki Woo, owned by Diana Rigg’s character Mrs Pumphrey, was a pro. ‘Derek could do tricks, raise his paw

and crucially keep still,’ says producer Richard Burrell.

DRAMA IN THE DALES

The original series, which ran from 1978-1990, was not without its controversies. Carol Drinkwater, 72, who played Helen Alderson in that incarnation recalls, ‘The first shot I filmed featured Helen wheeling her bicycle through a graveyard sporting beige slacks. The

BBC received a sack-load of complaints about Helen wearing trousers – it was considered impudent and immodest.

One letter said, “Only a tart would wear trousers in those days”. So there were no more trousers and, after three series, no more Carol.

‘The reason I left was that Helen didn’t have much to do,’

she says. ‘I thought she needed more meat in her scenes, but the BBC wanted to keep Helen in her place.’

While she doesn’t regret her decision, she regrets the pain it caused the cast and crew.

‘The others couldn’t understand why I was leaving,’ says the actress, who was replaced by Lynda Bellingham. She says she was offered very little work with the BBC again.

Carol is now a bestselling author whose latest book, The House On The Edge Of The Cliff, was published last year.

A FAMILY AFFAIR 

The children of All Creatures Great And Small author Alf Wight, better known by his pen name James Herriot, are consultants on the new series.

‘They read the scripts and gave us some really useful notes about their father,’ says producer Richard Burrell.

Son Jim, who was a vet like his father, and daughter Rosie, who was a GP, also met the cast.

Nicholas Ralph (James Herriot) says, ‘Rosie said to me, “Hi, dad”, which felt a bit weird!’

The first of Alf’s memoirs, If Only They Could Talk, did only moderately well when it was released in 1970, but then a US publisher combined it with Alf’s second memoir, called it All Creatures Great And Small, and it became a bestseller.

Alf used his pseudonym – the name of a goalkeeper he’d seen in a football match on TV – because the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons forbade members from promoting themselves. 

Despite selling millions of books and becoming wealthy, Alf (left) kept on working as a vet.

‘People would come from all over the world, especially America, to see him,’ Jim recalls.

‘When they did, they cried with happiness.’ Alf died in 1995 aged 78, leaving an estate valued at more than £5 million. 

All Creatures Great And Small, early next month on Channel 5.