Hi everybody,
I am a big fan of all sorts of series. One of my favourites is “All Creatures Great and Small – James Herriot“.
It is a series about James Herriot, a country vet, who came to Darrowby to practise his profession. He went to work with Siegfried Farnon in his practice at Skeldale House.
Tristan Farnon, Siegfrieds brother, also lives in Skeldale House. He is studying to become a vet too and he and Siegfried always quarrel about everything.
They all live in the same house and have Mrs. Hall as their housekeeper.
Later on James meets his later to be wife Helen Alderson and after they married they first live at Skeldale House, but later on they moved to their own house.
The series tell the stories of their daily lives and I love it!
There are 7 seasons. In the 4th season Helen is played by another actress, Lynda Bellingham. I love the first Helen the best. She is played by Carol Drinkwater.
This is the cast:
James Herriot — Christopher Timothy
Siegfried Farnon — Robert Hardy
Tristan Farnon — Peter Davison
Helen Herriot — Carol Drinkwater (series 1-3 and specials) and Lynda Bellingham (series 4-7)
Mrs Edna Hall — Mary Hignett (series 1-3)
Calum Buchanan — John McGlynn (series 4-6)
Mrs Greenlaw — Judy Wilson (second special; series 4, episodes 1-5)
Mrs Pumphrey — Margaretta Scott (recurring) (and her dog “Tricky Woo”)
Mrs Alton — Jean Heywood (series 7)
Hodgekin — Teddy Turner (recurring)
Jimmy Herriot — Harry Brayne (1983 special) and Oliver Wilson (1985 special – series 5) and Paul Lyon (series 7)
Rosie Herriot — Rebecca Smith (1985 special – series 5) and Alison Lewis (series 7)
Deirdre McEwan — Andrea Gibb (series 4-6)
Ezra Biggins — John Sharp (recurring)
Jeff Mallock — Fred Feast and Frank Birch (recurring)
Granville Bennett — James Grout (recurring)
Mr Hartley — Peter Martin (recurring)
Grimsdale — Bryan Pringle
And here is an episode of the series.
I love all sorts of TV series, Films and Musicals. Here are some of them that I have seen and have followed or are still following. 😀
Absolutely Fabulous
All Creatures Great and Small
A Place to Call Home
Downton Abbey
Harry Potter
Harry Potter – Hogwarts Express Launch
Harry Potter – Emma Watson – Speech UN
Harry Potter – J.K.Rowling – Lumos
Harry Potter – Interview J.K.Rowling
Harry Potter Play, Phantom Of The Opera, Tina Turner The Musical – Trip to London – 2018
Heartland
Jesus Christ Superstar
Kungfu – Shaolin
Lana Turner
Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries
Porgy and Bess
Princess Diana – New Movie 2013
Startrek – Into Darkness
Startrek – Mister Spock
Startrek – Leonard Nimoy Died
Take the Lead – Shall We Dance
The Sound of Music
Strictly Come Dancing – BBC
Strictly Come Dancing 2018
Who Pays the Ferryman?
i first watched the series in 1981/82 on PBS here in NYC..and was blown away by how great it was!..then 30 years later..present day..when i saw it was being shown again..i began watching it every wed night..once again completely hooked..THEN 2 weeks ago in the episode where sigfried and james go off to join up in 1940..i realized that THAT episode must be the end of the series..i was CRESTFALLEN!..so when i checked my tv schedule and saw that there was another episode coming the following wed..needless to say i was THRILLED..but when i watched it this past wed..i was confused and horrified!..it was commpletely different..with someone else playing helen..and the other characters hardly seemed like the same people!..then i found out that THAT was from 1988..not the original series..i can’t tell you what a bad taste that left in my mouth!..in my opinion they RUINED it!!..they should have left well enough alone and let it go down in ‘tv history’ with the dignity and excellence it exhibited in the first go-round..sorry but i just had to vent!..
Hi Barb,
I like the first Helen the best too. Carol Drinkwater is a great actress.
But having said that, I did like the seasons 4-7 nevertheless. 🙂
hi johanna..
what i was referring to wasn’t only about helen being played by someone else..it was the WHOLE show..and i suppose not expecting it and having no idea that this episode was from a ‘2nd’ series years later didn’t help…so for me it was a total shock..and rather depressing ..after only a couple of minutes, in utter bewilderment, ..i actually said..”what the hell is this?”..and i was sorry i had seen it..again, they should have left well enough alone..the first series was the JEWEL..the 2nd one was flogging a dead horse..trying to ‘recapture’…that never works..
just for the record though ..
while it’s great to have a forum where one can vent these trivial littlethings?…i’m over it…moved on..
thanks for your feedback
Hi, I was so confused every Wednesday night I watch the show. They go off rto war and the next week everyone is beyond much older . He had a new wife and two children. Why did they skip several seasons in between????? Why didn’t they keep it in order. It’s like they lost two or three seasons at least. Can anyone explain.
Hi Judy,
I have no idea why they did it like that, but I think it has to do with the fact that Helen was played by Linda Bellingham then. They changed it a bit.
But overall i still liked it. 😀