All Creatures Great & Small

Alf Wight, the real James Herriot, initially stipulated that all events in the series had to stay close to those in his books. By the end of the third season, all of Wight's books had been adapted for television and the series was thought to have run its course. However, producer Bill Sellars persuaded Wight to allow the writers to devise new stories, provided the scripts were approved by him and remained faithful to the spirit of his books.

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Robert Hardy clashed with the writers in the series' later seasons, as they seemed to insert scenes into every episode in which Siegfried Farnon would lose his temper and "blow up" for comic effect. Hardy fought with the writers to restore the character's dimensions and depth that he felt Siegfried had in the early seasons; he also liked to rewrite scenes when he found them below par.

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Cringley House in Askrigg, the building used as the exterior of Skeldale House, served for many years as a home for vulnerable adults. Its new owners opened it as a bed and breakfast and tea room on 23 March 2013. Jim Wight, son of Alf Wight (also known as James Herriot), was to perform the opening ceremony but could not attend because the roads to Askrigg were closed by heavy snow. The building was renamed Skeldale House in honour of its connection to the programme.

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Peter Davison's role in the series led directly to his casting as the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), because producer John Nathan-Turner had worked with him on this series while serving as its production unit manager.

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Christopher Timothy and Carol Drinkwater, who played James and Helen Herriot in the first three seasons, had an off-screen relationship. Although the relationship ended amicably, Drinkwater decided not to return to the series when it was revived for seasons 4-7. Lynda Bellingham was cast in her place.

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Christopher Timothy said he suffered greatly from being typecast on television after appearing in the hugely popular series. Years later he found that most of the job offers were for very similar roles and that he had come to be seen as a "vet" actor, which frustrated his agent. He did not act on television for eight years after the series ended.

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In the first few episodes of season 5, Helen was bedridden with a slipped disc in order to conceal Lynda Bellingham's pregnancy.

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Siegfried Farnon's dogs actually belonged to crew members: two to producer Bill Sellars, another to script editor Edward Rhodes, and a third to production unit manager John Nathan-Turner. Robert Hardy had one as well, which explains why they behaved so naturally on set. There was also a cost-saving reason, since part of the budget did not have to be set aside for regularly renting dogs.

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Although Christopher Timothy was about 37 years old during filming of the first season, the character James Herriot, as a newly qualified vet, was meant to be in his early to mid-twenties.

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The day after 1977, during a two-week filming break on the first series, Christopher Timothy badly broke his leg in a car accident. Some stories were changed to explain why James Herriot walked with a very pronounced limp or spent most of his time in the surgery rather than visiting farms. At first the role was expected to be recast: a proposal from the BBC was for Peter Davison to take over as James and reshoot with a new actor playing Tristan. Producer Bill Sellars insisted that the production work around Timothy to keep him in the series, which greatly reassured the actor, so much so that he was sometimes physically walked around the set during filming to maintain the vet's mobility.

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Christopher Timothy was initially offered the role of Tristan Farnon, but he said he would only join if he could play James Herriot.

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According to an interview with Peter Davison, an episode was rehearsed for ten days.

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The character Siegfried was based on a real-life vet named Donald Sinclair. In a remarkable coincidence, the character Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers (1975) was also based on a real-life hotelier named Donald Sinclair.

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Annie Lambert appears in the 1983 Special (1983) as Caroline Fisher, who is soon to become Siegfried's wife. She never reappears, however, for a simple reason: the actress had a rather raucous laugh that, according to Peter Davison, irritated her on-screen husband Robert Hardy so much that he refused to act alongside her again.

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Robert Hardy had previously appeared in Young Winston (1972). The roles of Siegfried Farnon and James Herriot had earlier been played by Anthony Hopkins and Simon Ward in the TV film version All Creatures Great and Small (1975). Both of those actors appeared in Young Winston (1972).

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The Drovers Arms was actually The Kings Arms.

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Johnny Pearson's theme music bears some similarities to The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from George Frideric Handel's oratorio Solomon.

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The main cast acknowledged that Robert Hardy and John McGlynn did not get along during production, a subject addressed in All Creatures Great & Small (2008). Although Hardy regarded McGlynn as a good actor, he disliked his new co-star's attitude and approach to the character, feeling that his performance clashed with the more relaxed, familiar style the three leads had established over the first three seasons.

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Skeldale House was actually located in Askrigg.

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Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy, Peter Davison and Carol Drinkwater shared their memories for the book "All Memories Great & Small," published in 2016 as part of the celebrations marking James Herriot's centenary. Other interviewees who shared memories of making the series included, many of them for the first time, the actors Andrea Gibb (Deirdre McEwan), Jean Heywood (Mrs. Alton), Ali Lewis (Rosie Herriot), Peter Alexander (St. John), Lois Baxter (Margery Egerton), Paul Clayton (Brian Weeting), Fine Time Fontayne (George Forsyth/Joe Bentley), Gillian Hanna (Betty Sanders), Derek Hicks (Willie Bannister), Peter Ivatts (Mr. Blackburn/Tom Maxwell), Vivien Keene (Mary Trenholm), Ray Mangion (Franco Pedretti), Norman Mann (Richard Edmundson), Nicholas McArdle (Mr. Worley), Joanna McCallum (Lady Hulton), Elizabeth Millbank-Turner (Alice McTavish), Suzanne Neve (Joan Clifford), Jonathan Owen (Peter Gillard), David Quilter (Andrew Bruce), Pamela Salem (Zoe Bennett), Jessica Sewell (Mary Clarke), Madeline Smith (Angela Farmer/Anne Grantley), Amanda Waring (Elizabeth Rayner) and Susan Wooldridge (daughter of Margaretta Scott). Those interviewed from behind the camera included Bob Blagden (director), Sandy Byrne (widow of writer Johnny Byrne), Alex Christison (film sound), Carol Churchill (make-up designer), David Crozier (designer), Nigel Curzon (designer), Roger Davenport (writer), Rowena Dean (make-up artist), Mike Duxbury (film editor), Paul Finch (son of writer Brian Finch), Graham Frake (lighting cameraman), Roderick Graham (director), Joyce Hawkins (costume designer), Terry Hodgkinson (writer), June Hudson (costume designer), David Hughes (sound), William Humble (writer), Brian Jones (gaffer), Peter Loring (film cameraman), Richard Martin (director), Christopher Penfold (script editor/writer), Les Podraza (floor assistant), Janice Rider (costume designer), Tony Redston (production associate), Michael Russell (writer), Helen Scarsbrook (wardrobe), Bill Sellars (producer), Pip Short (grip/AFM/location manager), Sam Snape (writer), Maggie Thomas (make-up artist), David Tilley (assistant floor manager), Tony Virgo (director) and John Williams (film cameraman). It was written by Oliver Crocker and published by Miwk.

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Mrs. Pumphrey's house was actually Ellerton Abbey.

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Alf Wight (James Herriot) spoke with a Scottish accent; Christopher Timothy was greatly relieved when he was told he would not have to reproduce it, as he did not consider the Scots to be the strongest at it.

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John Collin had played Mr. Alderson in the feature film All Creatures Great & Small (1975).

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James "Jim" Herriot, the Scottish professional footballer whose name the author Alf Wright used for the All Creatures Great & Small novels, films and series, died on 23 April 2025 at the age of 85.

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Richard Beckinsale, known for Rising Damp (1974) and Porridge (1974), and John Alderton, who starred in the feature film It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1976), both turned down the role of James Herriot before producer Bill Sellars approached Christopher Timothy.

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Jack Watkinson was the veterinary adviser on location shoots; Eddie Straiton worked in the same capacity for the studio scenes.

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Before filming began, Christopher Timothy spent a week living with the series' veterinary adviser, Jack Watkinson, and following him on his visits. He later cited this as one of his favourite memories from making the entire series.

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John McGlynn was 35 years old when he joined the series in 1988 as "Calum Buchanan," the new assistant to Siegfried and James (effectively replacing Tristan).

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The series is set between 1937 and 1953.

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In its final two seasons (six and seven), the series switched to shooting entirely on video tape (studio interiors and exteriors) instead of the previous practice of filming all location scenes on film. This was due to the release of high-quality portable video cameras and the generally lower cost of video production compared with film production.

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In a 2021 interview with Radio Times, Peter Davison said that when producer Bill Sellars first introduced him to Christopher Timothy, Timothy's first words were "Too tall, recast!"

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