Favorite Christmas Shows Countdown: #6 All Creatures Great & Small

#6: All Creatures Great & Small: Merry Gentlemen

I would say that it’s a pretty good bet that not very many people reading this blog have a clue as to what All Creatures Great & Small was, if any of you know at all. So, for some background, this was a television series which aired in Great Britain in the 1970’s and 80’s on the BBC and also aired on PBS for many years after that. This would have to be my dad’s favorite television show, as he watches it more than any other, and when we were growing up, we became quite familiar with it.

Basically, All Creatures is the story of a country vet in northern England named James Herriot (Christopher Timothy). The story takes place in the fictional town of Darrowby in Yorkshire in the 1930’s and is based on the novels written by Herriot in the late 60’s. James real name was Alfred Wight, and he based the stories on his early experiences as a vet in that area.

Harry Potter fans will recognize Siegfried as Cornelius Fudge

James works for Siegfried Farnon (Robert Hardy), an off the wall vet who, while being pompous and prone to anger fits also has a tremendous heart. Also working there is Siegfried’s brother Tristan (Peter Davidson) who is a vet student working on his degree. Tristan is the party type, laid back and prone to drink, but is an overall easy going fellow. Also living in the home is James’ wife Helen (Carol Drinkwater) and Mrs. Hall (Mary Hignett) the housekeeper.

The particular episode featured here is a Christmas themed one, of which they didn’t have many. Christmas is abuzz in Darrowby and the house is planning its Christmas events and traditions. James is out working on a horse and meets with a family of traveling nomads led by the father, a man named Myatt.

Myatt learns that one of his foals is getting sick and the staff at Skeldale house (the vet clinic) work to restore the health to this little horse because Myatt’s daughter, Margie is quite fond of it. However, being nomads, the Myatt’s are proud and Mr. Myatt figures the best course of action is to put the foal down. After all, a sick animal isn’t much use to them. The vet’s, especially Siegfried plead with Myatt to let them continue the work, and after some discussion, Myatt swallows his pride and allows them to continue their work, for Margie’s sake.

Meanwhile, many other stories are also discussed. We hear from an All Creatures favorite, Mrs. Pumphrey and her toy dog, Trickie Woo. Mrs. Pumphrey dotes on Trickie as if he were a child, and her constant attention and feeding of little treats almost kills the dog. The vet’s arrive in time, though almost into each other, much to Siegfried’s displeasure.

All three convince Mrs. Pumphrey to allow them to take Trickie back to Skeldale for round the clock nursing. Each day, Mrs. Pumphrey phones at the exact same time, and often comes around dressed in black because she believes Trickie has died. However this is not to be and he regains his health as soon as possible. Mrs. Pumphrey is, naturally, overjoyed, and sends many presents to the household as a way of saying thanks.

There’s a couple of minor stories. One in which Tristan asks Siegfried about a locked room, and wonders what’s inside. He decides to sneak in one night, and is given the shock of his life.

The other story involves the three vets going out and getting a Christmas tree. This part holds a particular fondness to me and my family because we also go out and cut down our tree each year. We always joke about how we follow this scene when we go out and many times, our experience is very similar to how it was in the episode.

What I like about British television is that there are no commercials, so if an episode was supposed to be an hour long, it was an hour long. You could see real acting taking place, and being honed, and there was plenty of time to tell complete stories.

One year we all piled into Dad's old pickup truck and we were packed in much the same as pictured here.

If you want to watch this show, I’d suggest watching the first several episodes so you can learn who the characters are, and then you can watch the episode. It’s really the best way to enjoy it.

The All Creatures Great & Small show was excellent television, though we often gave Dad grief for watching it so much, and Merry Gentlemen is by far my favorite episode of the entire series. An excellent choice for anyone at this time of the year.