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All Creatures Great and Small was the title given to a U.S. volume first published in 1972 comprising James Herriot's first two novels, If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, which were considered too short to publish individually in the U.S. market. The name was borrowed from the second line of the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful, and derived from a punning suggestion by Herriot's daughter, who thought the volume should be titled All Creatures Great and Small.
Herriot's books were part autobiography and part fiction, based on his life as a young veterinary surgeon working with Donald and Brian Sinclair in and around Thirsk, Yorkshire just before and during the Second World War. For more about the books, see the main article James Herriot.
Film
The books became highly popular and in 1974 Claude Whatham directed a feature film with Simon Ward as James Herriot, Anthony Hopkins as Herriot's eccentric employer, Siegfried Farnon, Brian Stirner as his errant younger brother Tristan, and Lisa Harrow as James's love-interest and then wife, Helen. The film, with a script by Hugh Whitemore, focused very much on James, and played down Siegfried's eccentricity; for example, a speech he makes early in the film rebuking James for refusing to attend a call during the middle of the night is delivered straight, while in the book it was highly hypocritical, as Siegried himself had earlier told James that he was 'spoiling' the farmers by coming out at all hours.
The film has been released on DVD for both Region 2 PAL and Region 1 NTSC.
A second film, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (also sometimes called All Things Bright and Beautiful), was made in 1975. John Alderton took over the role of James and Colin Blakely that of Siegfried, while Lisa Harrow returned as Helen. The film was directed by Eric Till from a script by Alan Plater with music by Wilfred Josephs.
Television
In 1978, the BBC created a television series from the books, again using the title All Creatures Great and Small. The leading role was taken by an unknown actor, Christopher Timothy, and Siegfried Farnon was played by the well-known Robert Hardy. Tristan was played by Peter Davison, who became a household name as a result and went on to take many other starring roles, notably as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who and as Margery Allingham's detective Albert Campion in two series of Campion. Helen was played by Carol Drinkwater in the first three series and two specials. Mary Hignett played the housekeeper Mrs. Hall, and Margaretta Scott appeared as the recurring aristocratic dog-owner Mrs Pumphrey.
With the amount of time available to it, the television series quickly became much more of an ensemble show, developing all the characters considerably. In particular, the role of Tristan was significantly increased, partly because Christopher Timothy suffered an automobile accident part-way through the first series and so was restricted to studio shooting (in at least one episode, he can be seen having visible difficulty walking about the surgery), requiring that scenes involving location filming be rewritten and given to Davison.
The programme ran for three series, but broke off in 1980 at the stage where the characters were drawn into the Second World War. Two specials were subsequently made in 1983 and 1985, and then in 1988 the programme was revived, and ran for four more series carrying on the story after the war. In the revived series, Lynda Bellingham took over the role of Helen, and Judy Wilson 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 vet with a liking for badgers in the form of John McGlynn playing Calum Buchannan (based upon Herriot's real-life assistant John Nettleton), a former classmate of Tristan's. The Herriot children, who had been introduced in the two specials, now became recurring characters, with Jimmy played by Oliver Wilson and Rosie by Rebecca Smith.
The television programme was filmed around Yorkshire, with some scenes shot at Bolton Castle. Indoor scenes were shot at the BBC's Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham. Apart from the two specials, most interior scenes were recorded on video and edited together with filmed exterior shots, as was common practice in British television at the time.
The famous theme and incidental music was by Johnny Pearson.
As of October 2005, the first two series have been released on Region 2 PAL DVDs; on Region 1 NTSC, the first five series and the two intermediate Christmas specials are available.
Episode list
Series 1(January-April 1978)
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Series 2(September-December 1978)
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Series 3(December 1979-April 1980)
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Specials
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Series 4(January-March 1988)
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Series 5(September-November 1988)
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Series 6(September-November 1989)
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Series 7(September-December 1990)
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See also
Reference in Other Popular Culture
- "...and we will be speaking to the disillusioned vet who, in James Herriot style, is writing his memoirs, under the working title of 'All Creatures Grunt and Smell'". * (The Two Ronnies, BBC)
- There is a pet shop called "All Creatures Great and Cheap" on The Simpsons.
An episode of the television series SCTV included a spoof entitled "All the Long-Leggedy Beasties," in which a British veterinarian pays a number of house calls and proceeds to put all of his clients' pets (and one client) to sleep.
External links
- Internet Movie Database entry for the first film
- Internet Movie Database entry for the second film
- Internet Movie Database entry for television programme
1972 novels | BBC television dramas | North Yorkshire | Period piece TV series | UKTV programmes
"All Creatures Great and Small"