Great excitement about TV re make
A new series of All Creatures Great and Small starts tonight and there are hopes it will showcase the region
ANTICIPATION HAS been mounting about the new television version of Yorkshire classic All Creatures Great and Small since it was announced more than a year ago.
The wait is finally over as the first episode airs on Channel 5 tonight at 9pm.
As well as reinvigorating the much- loved James Herriot tales that are held so dear by people across the country, Yorkshire’s own screen workers, young actors and tourism bosses are reaping the benefits of the programme, which was filmed in areas such as Grassington and Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales.
Pontefract make- up designer Lisa Parkinson, pictured right, is part of the team on the show.
Her career started 20 years ago with work experience at what is now Leeds Playhouse before getting trainee jobs with shows like Where the Heart Is and Emmerdale, and recently she has worked on shows such as Ackley Bridge, which is filmed in Halifax.
Mrs Parkinson sees All Creatures Great and Small as a big chance to show off the region.
She said: “I chased the job because I just wanted to show Yorkshire from a Yorkshire person’s point of view – the beauty of Yorkshire and the people of Yorkshire, which I love.”
Mrs Parkinson put lots of research into the style of the 1930s – the period the show is set in – and went to the job interview with her family’s old photo albums, which she based her ideas on, and this impressed producers. She collaborated with the producer Richard Burrell and directors Andy Hay and Brian Percival to make sure the look of the show is just right.
She said: “With James Herriot, it took us two or three goes at his hair to find the right one for the camera and the period to bring out his very good looks, and not to make him look too modern.”
Mrs Parkinson, 50, said that in 1930s Yorkshire there were few people with long hair due to the previous 1920s style but also because it was dangerous for farm workers, meaning some on set had to sacrifice their locks. One such person was Hattie Edkins, aged 13, who had 17 inches of hair chopped off to suit the show’s style. In the process she raised £ 700 for the Little Princess Trust, which provides wigs for poorly young people. The Ryburn Valley High School pupil said: “I just said straight away ‘ I’ll do it’ because it’s a dream role and dream series to be in – but I would only do it if my hair could go to good use.”
It was an ideal set to work on for the youngster, who raises ewes, lambs, goats and other animals on her family’s smallholding near Sowerby Bridge, and whose back- up career is to become a vet like Herriot.
She said: “I absolutely love it. I’ve always had pets since I was born. I don’t think I would change it for anything else in the world.” She plays Rudd’s daughter and said it was the favourite job she has done, from a list that includes Gentleman Jack, and Last Tango in Halifax.