All Creatures Great and Small Review

“The animals are the easy part. It’s the people who cause all the bother,” the main character is told at the beginning of the PBS Masterpiece series, All Creatures Great and Small. And we soon find out what that means.

The 7-part miniseries (9 pm Eastern/Central on PBS), which airs each Sunday from January 10 to February 21, follows a young veterinarian who is book smart, but short on real-life skills. 

Based on the series of novels by Alf Wight (originally under the pen name of James Herriot) celebrating their 50th year in publication, the miniseries has no shortage of humorous and heartwarming moments.  

The original novel throws us into the action of an emergency farm-call in the middle of the night—but the miniseries starts instead with James Herriot (yes, the main character is also called James) and his home life in his pre-vet days. We see his parents worried he’ll never get a job because times are tough and many are out of work. 

The parents are a mix of doubting and doting. His mother, who suggests James take a job with his father on the docks warns him, “Just don’t be disappointed if there’s not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

His father, who gave up on his own dreams long ago, is more encouraging. He tells his son “You’ve got a dream. You’ve got to chase it.” It’s only a five minute interlude, but it’s an interesting narrative choice to start the mini-series. From these early moments, it’s clear we’re not about to join a dark series with more angst than joy. Sure enough, a letter arrives with an interview opportunity and in no time at all James is headed to the train station in Glasgow to go find some animals to heal.

Things change quickly when he goes into the Yorkshire Dales. There, he gets hands-on experience from the often-skeptical farmers and families he encounters.

James (Nicholas Ralph, making his screen acting debut) is brimming with life and Ralph compellingly shows the complex range of emotions that Herriot experiences in his many adventures and misadventures across the dales. His boss and mentor, the veterinary surgeon Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West) can be curmudgeonly on even his best days, but we never doubt that he is both amused by and proud of his young apprentice.

West (Howard’s End) is everything we’d want from an actor playing Farnon—he masters many social complexities, like the art of being a near-celebrity with the local villagers and a daring driver on the curvy roads of the dales (sometimes without an ability to use the brakes) to showing genuine care and pride when his apprentice does something right at a late-night emergency call to a farmer in need. He’s frustrated and concerned when James makes errors, but all along we know he’s more sentimental than he shows. 

Of course, James wouldn’t even have a chance to stay if not for Farnon’s housekeeper, Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley), as an advocate. She hopes James can take some of the workload off Farnon’s frantic schedule and acts much like an overly concerned parent to both James and Farnon, exuding strength from the moment she’s on the screen.

Rachel Shenton also gives one of the more commanding performances as James’ love interest, farmer Helen Alderson, and her fierce determination makes every moment she’s on the screen more interesting.

Outside of the human cast, the setting and the animals are two other equally important stars. If you’ve never been to the Yorkshire Dales, you are in for a visual treat. The Yorkshire Dales, in Northern England, cover thousands of miles of rolling hills, moors, and small villages. Our particular fictionalized village in the novel and miniseries is Darrowby Village. 

Then there are the animals. From horses to bulls and pigs, James soon discovers these animals mean everything to the farmers of these moors. Many are skeptical of the new concepts he’s learned in veterinary school and wonder why he doesn’t do things the traditional way, like their veterinarians of the past.

The first episode gives you a sense of whether you’re going to like miniseries this or not. There is something utterly (pun intended) refreshing about a show that slows down and lets us enjoy our connection to the world and each other while watching a series of almost vignette-style treks out in the dales. 

One of James’ earliest reactions to being in the countryside is “I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful.” In many ways, that describes the miniseries as a whole. In a world spinning out of control, a show about animals, relationships, and humanity may be our greatest medicine.

Masterpiece: All Creatures Great and Small airs Sundays at 9pm Eastern / 8 Central on PBS.