A James Herriot antidote for our pandemic world
PBS has rebooted All Creatures Great and Small, the television incarnation of James Herriot’s delightful tales of life as a veterinarian in the yorkshire dales in the late 1930s (and beyond). The original series, based on the semi-autobiographical books by Herriot (whose real name was James Alfred Wight), aired on the BBC beginning in 1978. It was a marvel of cozy upright goodness without excess sweetness — a real feat that seemed unlikely to be repeated. And the characters — especially Siegfried Farnon and his younger brother, Tristan — became inextricably entangled in many minds with the actors who played them (robert Hardy and Peter davison, respectively). A bold move to mess with that success. But PBS pulled it off. The new All Creatures is a salve. We just need one look at fresh-faced, clear-eyed young James (played this time around by television newcomer Nicholas ralph) and we forget all about face-mask-acne and violent insurrections and everything else that currently ails us.
Herriot’s was a simpler time. No cellphones, no computers. No factory farms, no meal kits. No dishwashers, no microwaves. Just warm fires and hearty cups of tea. rich, green hills and pristine watering holes. But also, cranky horses that kicked you in the ribs and cows that needed your hard manual labour in the wee hours of the morning to help tug their calves into the world. Lots of bitter weather. Lots of mud and blood.
yes, the All Creatures universe is bucolic and unpretentious, but life therein is not easy. Farmers struggle to feed their families. James is frequently sore and rarely well-rested because his work driving from farm to farm tending to large animals does not follow office hours. And it involves a lot of withstanding crushing cow contractions. (When I watched the first bits of the new series, I spent a lot of time trying to explain to my baffled children what was happening to James’s arm.) Even James’s mentor Siegfried, who is ultimately lovable, would probably be classified as an abusive boss in today’s terms.
you can see why all of this would be soothing for an audience in 2021 because it is all we are currently missing. Our lives and problems are maddeningly complex — our futures may depend on the S gene dropout patterns of a particular SARS-CO-V-2 mutation. And at the same time, many of us are not engaged in active, meaningful work. We are stuck at home, exhausted not by physical exertion with a tangible result — no saving the animal a farmer relies on to get by, or relieving the suffering of a living creature — but by tedious Zoom meetings that drag on too long.
James and the farmers with whom he interacts are constantly confronted by hardship. Why is that so healing to watch?
Is it because All Creatures softens the blow with the warmth and comfort of cheerful dogs resting on laps, snug pub gatherings, and wholesome English breakfasts? Perhaps, but it is also because James and the farmers are fulfilled and fully present — doing what they know they must do while standing face to face with both the beauty and the ugliness that they encounter. We are in the middle of a pandemic that has killed more than two million people, but for a lot of us, death still feels vague and distant. Ominous. But not tangible. James, meanwhile, uses his own hands to facilitate the birth and death of distinct living creatures nearly every day. He feels the concordant joy and sadness every time. And he lives a richer life because of it.
Without question, All Creatures’ humour also plays a big role in providing solace. Even though I have read and watched many times the storyline of the pampered Pekingese dog Tricki Woo and his wealthy owner Mrs. Pumphrey, I still laughed out loud when the rebooted James got a party invitation from Tricki addressed to “uncle Herriot.”
That may not strike you as the height of hilarity, but by casting the human eccentricities and quirks that can make life feel miserable as something to smile at, the show further contributes to a peaceful state of mind.
We need COVID vaccines. While we wait for their deployment, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is watch the new All Creatures Great and Small series and try to emulate James Herriot’s instincts for living a life of meaning.
Will life always be hard? Probably, but All Creatures reminds us that by working through all parts of it — beautiful and brutal — we can also see that it is glorious.