All Creatures Great and Small was the title given to a compilation 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 Ill Creatures Great and Small. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Herriot’s former surgery in Thirsk is now a tourist attraction. ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... All Things Bright and Beautiful is the title of a famous Anglican hymn, though it is often sung during the services of other Christian denominations, such as Catholicism. ...

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. Look up veterinarian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Donald Sinclair (1910 - June 28, 1995) was a British veterinarian made famous as the eccentric character Siegried Farnon in the books by James Herriot. ... Brian Sinclair (c. ... Thirsk is a small market town in Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. ... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Herriot’s former surgery in Thirsk is now a tourist attraction. ...

Overview of the stories

All Creatures Great and Small includes many different stories, all told from essentially the same perspective, that of Alf Wight. James Herriot was the pen name of the author. Each chapter is about a different experience Herriot had in his time as a veterinarian. Herriot’s former surgery in Thirsk is now a tourist attraction. ...

Film

Simon Ward was the first actor to play James Herriot on the screen.

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 Farnon's 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's incidental music was by Wilfred Josephs. Image File history File links AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall1975SimonWard. ... Image File history File links AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall1975SimonWard. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Simon Ward (born London, October 19, 1941) is an English actor. ... Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE (IPA: ) (born 31 December 1937) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Welsh film, stage and television actor. ... Lisa Harrow is a New Zealand-born actress, noted for her various roles in British films and television. ... Hugh Whitemore Hugh Whitemore is an English playwright and screenwriter. ... Wilfred Josephs (4 July 1927 - 17 November 1997) was a British composer. ...

The film has been released on DVD for both Region 2 PAL and Region 1 NTSC. DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or, incorrectly, Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

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. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... John Alderton (born November 27, 1940), is a popular British actor. ... Colin Blakely (September 23, 1930 May 7, 1987) was a British character actor. ... Alan Frederick Plater, CBE (born 15 April 1935) is an English playwright and screenwriter, who has worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. ...

Television

The television series was an ensemble show, with more-developed characters and an atmosphere of domesticity.

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. Image File history File links AllCreaturesGreatAndSmallCast. ... Image File history File links AllCreaturesGreatAndSmallCast. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion (US$7. ... Christopher Timothy (left) as Dr. Brendan Mac McGuire with Diane Keen in Doctors Christopher Timothy (born October 14, 1940) is a Welsh-born actress best known for playing James Herriot in the television series All Creatures Great and Small. ... Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge in the film Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE (born October 29, 1925) is one of Britains best-known and most popular actors, and also an acknowledged expert on the longbow. ... Peter Davison (born 13 April 1951) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriots All Creatures Great and Small and as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1981 to 1984. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, (and a 1996 television movie). ... Margery Louise Allingham (1904-1966) was born in London and attended The Perse High School for Girls in Cambridge, before returning to London and the Polytechnic for Speech-Training. ... Albert Campion is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories by Margery Allingham. ... Carol Drinkwater is a British actress and author, who has appeared in series including All Creatures Great and Small. ... Mary Hignett (? – July 6, 1980) was a British actress best known for her role as Mrs Edna Hall in the television series All Creatures Great and Small. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

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. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lynda Bellingham (born May 31, 1948 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian-born actress. ...

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 original set of the interior of the vets surgery is now located at the Richmondshire Museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire and is open to the public. Bolton Castle is located in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. ... Pebble Mill Studios were located in the leafy suburbs of Birmingham, England. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... The Richmondshire Museum is a museum located in Richmond in North Yorkshire, England. ... The town of Richmond as seen from the top of the keep of Richmond Castle Richmond is a market town on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, UK and is the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. ...

The famous theme and incidental music was by Johnny Pearson. Johnny Pearson (born June 18, 1925) is a British composer and pianist. ...

As of May 2007, the first four series have been released on Region 2 PAL DVDs ; on Region 1 NTSC, the first six series and the two intermediate Christmas specials are already available with the final seventh season due for release on August 14, 2007. 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or, incorrectly, Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

In real life, the counterparts of Siegfried and James were reverse physical types from the actors who played them in the TV series. "James Herriot" (Alf Wight) was stocky, and "Siegfried Farnon" (Donald Sinclair) was of slender build. Herriot’s former surgery in Thirsk is now a tourist attraction. ... Donald Sinclair (1910 - June 28, 1995) was a British veterinary surgeon made famous as the eccentric character Siegried Farnon in the semi-autobiographical books of James Herriot (Alf Wight), later adapted for film and television as All Creatures Great and Small. ...

Cast

• James Herriot — Christopher Timothy
• Siegfried Farnon — Robert Hardy
• Tristan Farnon — Peter Davison
• Helen Herriot — Carol Drinkwater (series 1-3 & specials) & Lynda Bellingham (series 4-7)
• Calum Buchanan — John McGlyn (from series 4)
• Mrs Hall — Mary Hignett (series 1-3)
• Mrs Greenlaw — Judy Wilson (series 4-6)
• Mrs Alton — Jean Heywood (series 7)
• Mrs Pumphrey — Margaretta Scott
• Jimmy Herriot — Oliver Wilson (1985 special - series 6) & Paul Lyon (series 7)
• Rosie Herriot — Rebecca Smith (1985 special - series 6) & Alison Lewis (series 7)

Christopher Timothy (left) as Dr. Brendan Mac McGuire with Diane Keen in Doctors Christopher Timothy (born October 14, 1940) is a Welsh-born actress best known for playing James Herriot in the television series All Creatures Great and Small. ... Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge in the film Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE (born October 29, 1925) is one of Britains best-known and most popular actors, and also an acknowledged expert on the longbow. ... Peter Davison (born 13 April 1951) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriots All Creatures Great and Small and as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1981 to 1984. ... Carol Drinkwater is a British actress and author, who has appeared in series including All Creatures Great and Small. ... Lynda Bellingham (born May 31, 1948 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian-born actress. ... Mary Hignett (? – July 6, 1980) was a British actress best known for her role as Mrs Edna Hall in the television series All Creatures Great and Small. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Episode list

See also

• James Herriot

Herriot’s former surgery in Thirsk is now a tourist attraction. ...

References

References 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'". [1] (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.
• Mr Chinnery, a recurring character in the TV comedy series The League of Gentlemen, is clearly based on the series. Mark Gatiss plays a Peter Davison-like character who accidentally kills every creature he treats.

Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker The Two Ronnies was a British sketch show that aired on BBC One from 1971 to 1987. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Mark Gatiss (born October 17, 1966) is an English actor and writer. ... Peter Davison (born 13 April 1951) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriots All Creatures Great and Small and as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1981 to 1984. ...

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
• TV.com entry for television programme