Photo: PBS / Channel 5

All Creatures Great and Small is set for a January 2021 return on PBS as part of Masterpiece‘s 50th anniversary celebration! Starring Nicholas Ralph along with Samuel West, Callum Woodhouse, Anna Madeley and Rachel Shenton, the series is based on the books of Alf Wight (writing under the pseudonym, James Herriot).

The original series, broadcast in both the U.K. and the U.S. from 1978-1990, starred Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and Peter Davison running for 7 series and 90 episodes and followed veterinary surgeon James Herriot as he treated animals in the English countryside in the 1930s.

Photo: PBS / Channel 5

For the 21st century version, Nicholas Ralph will make his television debut in the lead role of James Herriot. He’ll be joined by Samuel West (Mr Selfridge) as Siegfried Farnon, the wonderfully eccentric veterinary surgeon and proprietor of Skeldale House who reluctantly hires the recently qualified Herriot into his rural practice. Anna Madeley (The Child in Time, Patrick Melrose) will portray Mrs Hall, the resident housekeeper and matriarch of the same institution.

Photo: PBS / Channel 5

Siegfried’s errant and charismatic younger brother, Tristan, will be played by Callum Woodhouse (The Durrells in Corfu) and Rachel Shenton takes the role of Helen Alderson, an independent local farmer’s daughter who helps her father manage the family farm and care for her younger sister. Guest stars in the first season will include Dame Diana Rigg (Victoria), Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter) and Nigel Havers (Chariots of Fire).

2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the original publication of the much-loved books which have sold over 60 million copies worldwide since its first release in the UK in 1970.

All Creatures Great and Small airs as part of PBS Masterpiece series beginning January 2021. 

In: Drama