More series for Channel 5's All Creatures Great and Small

James Herriot's renowned and heartwarming stories of the country vet in the 1930s have been such a hit for the filmmakers they say they are making at least two more series for 2022 and 2023 with filming starting in spring in the Yorkshire Dales.

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Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West)

Two have already run with the last Christmas Special broadcast on Christmas Eve. The show has also been a big hit across the world with the second series starting to air this week in America.

Thirsk Author Alf Wight created the famous vet stories in the 1970s, based on his own experiences as a rural vet in North Yorkshire forty years earlier and they became international bestsellers that have never been out of print.

His children Jim Wight and Rosie Page, who still live in the area said: "For many years the books of James Herriot have provided a source of comfort to tens of thousands of people worldwide at difficult times in their lives. With this recent adaptation of his books, a new generation has been introduced to the joys of the Herriot stories.

"We are delighted that there are to be at least two more series of All Creatures Great and Small, and we are especially pleased that the same excellent actors and producers are to be involved."

Sebastian Cardwell head of Channel 5 said: "It is clear that our viewers adore James Herriot’s adventures in Darrowby and so do we. I am looking forward to us all being reunited with the Skeldale House family when series three arrives on our screens this year.

"The series made a triumphant return in the UK last year with an average of 4.1 million loyal viewers tuning in across the series. It has provided viewers with irresistible escapism and unabashedly wholesome viewing that ‘proved a tonic to viewers in troubling times’ according to The Times.

Mr Pumphrey with Tricki Woo, aka Derek

"As series three returns, we will rejoin our beloved family in the Spring of 1939 as the prospect of another World War looms large over the Dales.

Change is afoot for all our Darrowby residents, especially James and Helen, who are embarking on the next chapter of their lives as the wider world around them heads toward a period of great uncertainty."

For the new series stars, Nicholas Ralph will continue to play the young vet James Herriot, and Samuel West as his mentor Siegfried Farnon.

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WAnna Madeley returns as the matriarch of Skeldale House, Mrs Hall, whilst Callum Woodhouse is Siegfried’s slowly maturing brother Tristan. Rachel Shenton continues as local farmer Helen Alderson.

They will be supported by farmers, animals and townsfolk from the times as well as actress Patricia Hodge as the sophisticated Mrs Pumphrey, and her adored and extremely pampered Pekingese Tricki Woo, who is played by the unflappable Derek.

Filming is taking place in Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales which doubles as Herriot's Darrowby in the books.

While the two new series have been welcomed, committing Channel 5 to a total of 28 episodes, they still have some way to go to catch up with the original TV shows which were made by the BBC and broadcast from 1978 to 1980 as well as another series from 1988 to 1990 with a total of 90 episodes in all.

Stars of the show then were Christopher Timothy as Herriot, Robert Hardy as Siegfried and Carol Drinkwater as Helen, later replaced by Lynda Bellingham.

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