All Creatures Great and Small (TV Series) - History

History

The Herriot "novels" are written in a very episodic manner, with each chapter generally containing a short story within the ongoing narrative of Herriot's life. This format made the creation of a television series a natural adaptation.

The programme initially ran for three series, with each episode adapting one or two of the Herriot stories—usually a story thread centered around James, and a second centered around Siegfried or Tristan. The continuity of the show followed the general arc of the books: James' arrival at Darrowby in the mid-1930s, his growing experience as a vet, his humorous attempts at romance with Helen, and their eventual marriage. The programme ended in 1980 at the stage where the characters were drawn into the Second World War. This completed the adaptation of all the novels which Alf Wight had written up to that point. Two 90-minute Christmas Specials were subsequently made, in 1983 and 1985, set after the war.

Eight years later, in 1988, the programme was revived, after the BBC was able to persuade Alf Wight to allow new scripts to be written around the existing characters, but not directly based on the Herriot books. The revived series was one of the first co-productions of the BBC (a practice that has since become commonplace), made in partnership with A&E and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The revival ran for four more series, taking the characters into the early 1950s. Lynda Bellingham took over the role of Helen (following Carol Drinkwater's decision not to continue in the part, as a result of the ending of a real-life romance with Christopher Timothy), and Judy Wilson briefly played a new housekeeper, Mrs Greenlaw, as Mary Hignett had died shortly after the end of the third series. The Darrowby practice added a young Scottish vet, Calum Buchanan (John McGlynn), based upon Herriot's real-life assistant Brian Nettleton. Buchanan was a former classmate of Tristan's, and had a particular fondness for wildlife. The Herriot children, who had been introduced in the two specials, became recurring characters, with Jimmy played by Oliver Wilson and Rosie by Rebecca Smith.

The revived series gradually became more based around the development of the central characters — particularly after the introduction of Calum and Deirdre, with their romance and subsequent marriage — and it mainly centred upon the activities inside Skeldale House at Darrowby, rather than being a series about a veterinary practice. For the final series, all of the new characters were dropped (including Calum, Deirdre, and the Herriot children), and the series returned to its 1970s roots, focusing once more on the animals. The final broadcast was another Christmas Special, in 1990.

In 2007, an unfilmed script by the show's script editor Johnny Byrne was recovered and presented to the BBC as a possible Christmas reunion episode, but the BBC did not commission it. Peter Davison joked, "Maybe they just thought we were too decrepit, I don't know!"

Over 18-20 December 2011, the BBC screened a three-episode prequel, Young James Herriot, about Herriot's time at University, with Iain de Caestecker in the title role. Co-stars included Amy Manson and Tony Curran.