DVD Review: All Creatures Great and Small: Season Three

All Creatures Great and Small: Season Three
(DVD All)

I just recently viewed the third season of All Creatures Great and Small which aired on PBS this Spring and decided that it was time to do a recommendation for this marvelous series. I am a huge fan of James Herriot (aka James Alfred Wight) and have read all of his books and every book that the library owns on him and his beloved Yorkshire. Part biographical, part fictionalized accounts of experiences that he and his son had as veterinarians in the Thirsk area of Yorkshire, James recounts life working in the Yorkshire Dales for the incredible owner of the veterinary practice, Siegfried Farnon (aka Donald Sinclair). This series had been televised before with Robert Hardy as Siegfried and Christopher Timothy as James Herriot back in the 1970s-80s, but this new series has many things going for it to rival the original production. First and foremost, the new All Creatures cast brings a more realistic edge to each character, giving them more emotional growth as they move from childish banter in the early episodes to serious topics such as the beginning of World War II in season three. With this season we see James happily married to his beloved Yorkshire farm girl, Helen, but the possibility of James enlisting as a soldier threatens to tear them apart. The theme for season three seems to be finding love and losing the ones you love as the young men are leaving for war. There are wonderful performances from all of the main characters, but especially from the characters of Siegfried (Samuel West), Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) and James (Nicholas Ralph), the three veterinarians in the practice. I look forward to the next season!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try James Herriot’s Favorite Dog Stories, all of the books in the All Creatures Great and Small series by Herriot, James Herriot’s Cat Stories, James Herriot’s Yorkshire, The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by Jim Wright, and the original All Creatures Great and Small series (1978-80 and 1988-90) with Robert Hardy and Christopher Timothy.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official All Creatures Great and Small web site )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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