All Creatures Great and Small (PBS Masterpiece)
 

I don't believe there is a thread for this show, but I really like it so I thought I'd make one. I realize there may not be a big audience for it on this site, but nevertheless...

This show is based on the popular series of books by James Herriot about his life as a veterinarian in rural England starting in the 1930s. There was an earlier tv adaptation of the same name that ran for several seasons in the 70s and 80s.

In the US, this new adaptation airs on PBS (Sunday nights on my station). The first season aired in early 2021 here (late 2020 in the UK), and the second season aired its second episode last night.

It's a really nice, romantic, light, period drama. Many scenes are filmed in the beautiful countryside in northern England, and there are many real animals on screen as the vets tend to their patients--including family pets as well as farm animals. The central characters are James, a young Scottish vet who takes a job with a more experienced vet, Siegfried, and his younger brother, Tristan, in a village in Yorkshire. Mrs. Hall is their housekeeper and Helen is a local farmer's daughter and James's love interest.

Past seasons/episodes are available on the PBS streaming app, and also on some cable subscription on-demand apps (DirecTV, Spectrum).

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re: All Creatures Great and Small (PBS Masterpiece)
 

Oh, and I've never read the books nor watched the earlier series (despite it starring my favorite Doctor, Peter Davison), but I've got them both on my 'to do' list now.

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Nice reminder that I should catch up on this. Due to my brother having read the books I ended up reading them many years back (I even think I reread them back in the days when I used to read more and not play games on my tablet). I remember watching quite a few episodes of the first tv adaptation of the series (which was a pretty solid adaption as far as these things go).

Will fire up my xfinity dvr and find this series. Glad you created a thread.

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Yeah, enjoy this show. Like Ted Lasso, it's just a...warm, kindhearted show.

I believe this was just renewed for Seasons 3 and 4 as well.

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Exactly--I watch enough dark, grim shows, and this one is just so pleasant. Of course it does have some drama and conflict, but it's all pretty normal and dealt with in a reasonable manner.

Ooh, I didn't know that--very good to hear. :thumbsup:

For those that haven't watched, each season is just seven episodes (six episodes plus a Christmas special).

re: All Creatures Great and Small (PBS Masterpiece)
 

The first season was fantastic thanks for reminding about the second season.

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I really enjoyed the first season, but I hadn't started watching season 2 yet.

re: All Creatures Great and Small (PBS Masterpiece)
 

So, I got lucky in regards to Season two and when I set my dvr yesterday to record all eps (reruns and new) it tagged the repeat airing of Season two's first two episodes, so all of season two will be available to me to watch off my dvr, nice. Season one had to be purchased and even though I rarely buy tv shows through vudu/prime/itunes, I went ahead and picked up Season one in UHD on Vudu for $15. Money well spent, as the first episode was great and I look forward to watching over the coming weeks. Also, if I could have watched Season one for free or for less than $15, please do not mention it as I already spent my money (but as I just noted, no regrets and the show looks great in UHD), lol!

The actress who play's Mrs. Hall, Anna Madeley is great, the dynamic that she has with Siegfried works and is believable.

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Nice. As you watch more, I would be interested in hearing how this show compares generally to your recollection of the books and the earlier tv adaptation. Please no spoilers, though. :)

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It has been so long since I read the books, and my memory of the OG series adaptation is quite fuzzy, but I finished up Season 1 last night, and am eager to watch S2 Ep 2 and this show is so enjoyable to watch. It is arguably better than the original adaptation. I do remember scenes that are pretty close to what you would get in the books, which is great. What I like is that it seems they nailed the casting on this series, and for a newcomer to the acting scene Nicholas Ralph has made quite the impression with this series and should have a long and healthy career ahead of him.

I was late to recording the 2nd season so my dvr picked up re-airings of S2 eps 1 & 2, but the re-airing of ep 2 will be recorded for me either today or tomorrow, so I was able to watch S2 ep1 last night, and I have ep 3 waiting for me to watch but of course I need to view the eps in order so I have to be patient. I can already tell that I am going to be bummed and impatient that I will have to wait to watch Season 3.

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I keep see it in my offerings on PBS (subscribe to Masterpiece off and on) and I think it's listed on Acorn or Britbox. Love British tv and love animals but I've avoided the show so far since it was centered on a veterinary practice. Afraid it might have a lot of eps pulling on the heartstrings with people losing their pets or farm animals. Is this the case?

re: All Creatures Great and Small (PBS Masterpiece)
 

The show is based on a series of beloved books (which are worth reading), which you may already be aware of, and James Herriot would sometimes tell the story of when he lost a patient (animal), but he never laid things out so it was a major downer to read about. Mostly, it is an uplifting show that is safe for the family to watch. Super little blood is shown, very few shots of an animals skin being opened by a scalpel, this is not a series that wants to break your heart as you watch or make you feel uncomfortable. It really is a charming series that is well cast. Diana Rigg plays Tricki Woo's owner and if you have read the books you will especially appreciate that Tricky Woo gets his own episode of the show.

As noted upthread, I splurged and bought Season 1 in UHD on Vudu (but I bet you can buy from other video on demand sites like Amazon Prime Video, etc.) and it was so worth it. The series looks gorgeous in a crisp HD format. There are 6 episodes to season 1 plus a great bonus Christmas themed episode. Each episodes is at least 45-50 minutes which means you are really watching a show that has an episode length that would be closer to 70-75 minutes if you were watching the show with commercials, so you get a pretty good bang for your buck if you buy the episodes to stream.

ETA: Oh man, I forgot that Diana Rigg passed away recently and she played Tricki Woo's owner in Season 1, so a new actress plays his owner in season 2. It is never too late to say this, RIP Diana Rigg.

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Ok, thanks. Will check it out.

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Just watched S2E3. When Diana Rigg passed away a while back, I figured they might just not include "Mrs. Pumphrey" any more, but I am glad they recast her so we get more Tricki Woo. I liked Helen's sister giving James a hard time about his dirty shoes. One of my neighbors down the street keeps chickens and occasionally one of them will fly the coop and wander the neighborhood. Nice scene at the end with James and Helen on the roof.

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I didn't even know this show existed until this article appeared on my Facebook newsfeed about two weeks ago. I've been looking for another kind and warm hearted series to watch until "Ted" returns. It truly is a wonderful show. And beautifully shot. I'm thinking about buying the Blu Ray import from Amazon.co.uk.

https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/i-...456Voh4vR4VOzg

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S2E4 "Many Happy Returns"
Well, that was a really awkward dinner party! Poor Tristan. At the beginning of season 1 he seemed like a bit of a jerk, but since then he's really turned into a sympathetic character. He still shows pretty poor judgment at times, but overall he's a decent guy. I liked how Tristan's dinner guest mistook Mrs. Hall for "Mrs. Farnon." Foreshadowing?

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I'll have to check it out. The Yorkshire area of England where this show takes place is a really nice part of England. My brother has lived there most of his life. He lives about a 15 minute drive from where Last of the Summer Wine was filmed.

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I had never watched the original series, but over Christmas break, I saw PBS was doing a marathon of this version and decided to watch.
I was hooked right away. I love the scenery, and the acting is great. The animals are pretty amazing too.
It's such a wholesome, kind, and loving show, and that's something that's really missing on most networks.
I think I cried twice in the second season, loved the Christmas special.

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Season 2 Episode 5 "The Last Man In"

Just watched last Sunday's episode (Feb. 6). It's S2 E5, but for some reason my Tivo DVR has it labeled as S2 E7.

Anyways, good episode! The farmers and vets against the rich guys in a cricket match. I felt for poor James, as I was never much good at sports myself. James and Helen finally have to be face-to-face with Hugh for the first time since Helen ditched him. And little Tricki Woo gets his groove on. Some good character moments between Siegfried and Tristan. And Mrs. Hall's potential suitor makes another appearance.

Tomorrow's episode should be the final regular episode of S2, but then we should get the Christmas special the following week.

BTW, this series is actually set a few years earlier than the real timeline from Herriot's life. In real life, he started working as a vet in 1940, whereas in the show he starts in 1937. I suspect that was done to avoid having to deal immediately with WWII in the show. But they will eventually have to address it somehow. I read the Wikipedia article on Herriot and I think there is a detail about his military discharge they might have to change if they include it at all in this series. Nothing scandalous, just may not make for good TV. It will be interesting to see how the war is dealt with in the show.

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Tonight's episode (7) will be the last of the season, but I wanted to post a few thoughts about last week's episode:

Season 2 Episode 6 "Home Truths"
Well, I had been wondering about the upcoming war, and sure enough we start to hear the rumblings of it in this episode. It's mostly background, but it recurred throughout the episode. On a lighter note, I was surprised to see James proposing already to Helen, though he had to be coaxed into it a little. I thought they might let their courtship play out a little longer before having them marry. It will be interesting to see how that changes the dynamics of the show. Siegfried mentioned that Helen could move in to Skeldale House (Siegfried's house) but I'd imagine they'd want their own place.
We've already mentioned the beautiful scenery in this show, but this episode may have the best yet. The scene when James first clumsily proposes to Helen on the roadside in the farmland (before he spoke to her dad) looked really great, and the scene when James' parents are arriving on the bus and you see a wide shot of the charming village with the green hills behind it sloping up and away into the distance was just gorgeous.

I'm looking forward to tonight's episode!

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Season 2 Christmas Special - "The Perfect Christmas"
Poor Tricki Woo had a rough time, but it's nice to get some further character development of Mrs. Pumphrey. Helen's little sister is adorable--I hope she and their father are still featured in upcoming seasons even after Helen and James marry. It was funny seeing Mrs. Hall get a little flustered by her gentleman friend, but he handled it with with class. The barmaid, Maggie, is getting married, so I wonder if there will be a new--perhaps more serious--love interest for Tristan in the next season. I guess there's the rich girl with the horses, the one he was trying to impress earlier. Or maybe Maggie will have a change of heart--she didn't seem very serious about her husband-to-be. On a somber note, the plane flying over the village hints at the looming war, which takes on even more relevance in light of the past few days in the real, current world. But the big impromptu gathering at Mrs. Pumphrey's house was quite heartwarming and a pleasant way to wrap up the season.

With the season finales of both this and Around the World in 80 Days (another good Masterpiece show), there is now a big hole in my Sunday night tv viewing. Looking forward to more of both whenever they return.

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Dang, I meant to post a reminder earlier, but season 3 started airing tonight in the US. As before, there will be 6 episodes plus a Christmas special for a total of 7. I won't get a chance to watch tonight's episode until tomorrow evening, so I'll update with some thoughts after I've seen it.

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The cozy show returns!

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Great thread bump, I saw that my DVR was set to record S3 Ep 1 tonight, excited to watch it after work tomorrow.

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Season 3 Episode 1 - "Second Time Lucky"

The first part of this episode was basically "The Hangover: ACGAS Edition" :lol: Featuring shocking acts of delinquency such as drinking beer, muddy trousers left in the pantry, a random new pet rat, a dog who ate the wedding ring, and James waking up disoriented in a barn.

There were some nice moments with Helen and her family, and Ms. Hall helping Helen get ready for the wedding.

No major plot developments beyond the wedding, and I guess Siegfried making James a partner. The war is more tangible now with the recruiters coming around, and James seems to be taking an interest. There was another quick scene with Tristan and Maggie, so I think there will be more to play out between them.

Favorite moment in this episode: "Apologize to Tricki Woo."

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