All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series)
Premise
The show revolves around a trio of vets working in the Yorkshire Dales in the late 1930s. Siegfried Farnon (described as an "eccentric)") hires James Herriot for his veterinary practice at Skeldale House. In addition to Siegfried and James, there is Siegfried's younger brother, Tristan), and Mrs Hall, their housekeeper.
Cast and characters
Actor Nicholas Ralph did quite a lot of research on James Herriot ("Alf" Wight) who died in 1995. He also met the vet's son and daughter, Jim and Rosie. "They spoke a lot about Donald and Brian, the real Siegfried and Tristan. They said to me that I had the hardest job because Alf is a kind of observer to these bigger, larger-than-life personalities", he recalled. The actor required training in veterinary procedures for authenticity. "Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing. Learning how to approach the animal and everything like that. Using the stethoscope on the cow's heart, then lungs, then stomach" the actor recalled.
Cast and characters
Although James Herriot/Alf Wight had a "soft, lilting Scottish accent", according to Christopher Timothy who played Herriot in the original TV adaptation), Timothy was instructed to keep his speech neutral for universality when the original BBC series was being filmed. Nicholas Ralph used his Scottish accent.
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