All Creatures Great and Small is a television series, set in 1937,[1] based upon a series of books about a Yorkshire veterinarian written by Alf Wight under the pen name of James Herriot. The series was produced by Playground Entertainment for Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, and PBS in the United States.[2]All Creatures Great & Small Season 1-2 Download
The series is a new adaptation of Wight’s books, following the previous BBC series of 90 episodes that ran from 1978 to 1990 and a number of other films and television series based on Herriot’s novels.[3] It is filmed in the Yorkshire Dales, and received some funding from Screen Yorkshire.[4]The first series, which consists of six episodes and a special Christmas episode, was filmed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the James Herriot series.[5] The series premiered in the UK on Channel 5 on 1 September 2020 and in the US on PBS as part of Masterpiece on 10 January 2021.Following a second series in late 2021, the show was renewed for two further series, each composed of six episodes and a Christmas special, in January 2022.The show revolves around a trio of veterinary surgeons working in the Yorkshire Dales beginning in 1937. Siegfried Farnon (described as an “eccentric”) hires James Herriot into his veterinary practice at Skeldale House. Besides Siegfried and James, there is Siegfried’s younger brother, Tristan, and Mrs. Hall, their housekeeper.Actor Nicholas Ralph did a great deal of research on James Herriot (“Alf” Wight) who died in 1995. He also met the vet’s son and daughter, Jim and Rosie. “They spoke a lot about Donald and Brian, the real Siegfried and Tristan. They said to me that I had the hardest job because Alf is a kind of observer to these bigger, larger-than-life personalities”, he recalled.[11] Naturally, the actor required training in veterinary procedures for authenticity in the show.[12] “Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing.