Could ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ become the next ‘Downton Abbey’?
Photo: PBS / Channel 5
Ok, that may be just a bit over the top but given the response to last night series 1 finale of the All Creatures Great and Small reboot, it has all the makings of equaling the brilliant six series run of Downton Abbey. Since the new ACGS has yet to premiere on PBS’ Masterpiece series with American audiences having to wait until January 2021, today’s post will safely be a no-spoiler zone for all things All Creatures.
Starring Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot, along with Samuel West, Callum Woodhouse, Anna Madeley and Rachel Shenton, the series finale aired on last night on Channel 5 in the U.K. with the audiences ‘absolutely gutted that this is the last episode‘ according to one viewer. Another viewer called it “the best series of the year! Hopefully will run as long as the original serial.”
The original “All Creatures Great and Small”. Photo: BBC
For those that may not remember, the original drama about a country vet in the Yorkshire Dales between the two world wars was massively popular when it originally screened on the BBC between 1978-1990 running for 7 series and 90 total episodes. Adapted from the books by veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote his novels under the pen name “James Herriot”, the All Creatures Great and Small series in 1978 was not actually the first foray into TV. The first adaptation of the James Herriot books was a movie which came out in 1975, starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins. A sequel was released a year later without Ward and Hopkins and, understandably, it was neither a hit nor watchable.
Photo: PBS / Channel 5
While fans of the Channel 5 reboot are ‘gutted’ that the series has ended, they can sleep better tonight with the knowledge that a second series has already been commissioned and should hit the telly sometime in late 2021. Word is, there will be a Christmas special this year to help with the separation anxiety, thankfully.
Voted “Yorkshire’s greatest television show of all time”, series 1 of the all-new All Creatures Great and Small will premiere on PBS Masterpiece in January 2021.
In: Drama
