Clearing the runway for a new Superman and Lois Lane

Nicholas Ralph ON PBS

The “Masterpiece” remake of “All Creatures Great and Small” is your first television credit. As it wraps up its run, with your being its central star, how did you find the experience of filming it?

I came from a theater background where you don’t get that stuff (catering and other amenities). Start to finish, this was just incredible, and spending the four months ... we were just going like everyone was on fire, cast and crew. It was an incredible opportunity, and one I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to do.

What sort of research did you do for the project?

I read all the books, and I even went down to Glasgow at the university archive, and I found James Herriot’s – or the man himself, James Alfred Wight’s (who used “James Herriot” as his pen name) – his scores and his absences from the days when he was in Glasgow Veterinary College. And something that struck me was that in the biography his son wrote, (it was revealed) he was a little bit ill during that period.

Something you noticed was that of the people that passed, he was one of the highest absentees, but he was always within the top three (students in) all the classes. It just showed me straight away not only the intelligence of the man, but more the hard work and the passion he had for that to happen. Already, that gives you so much to work with as an actor. And we met his son and daughter, Jim and Rosie. They were really helpful with little anecdotes and stories and things like that.

“All Creatures Great and Small” turned out to be one of the final projects made by the late Dame Diana Rigg. How was it to work with her?

Working with Diana was an absolute pleasure. She had so much vitality, and she was keeping everybody on their toes.