PICK OF TODAY’S TV

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, 9PM, CH5

IT’S back to Skeldale for a third series of the comforting rural drama. Three months have passed and it’s now the spring of 1939 as the episode opens with vet James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) serenely driving through the lush Yorkshire Dales on the eve of his marriage to Helen (Rachel Shenton, pictured centre with Samuel West as Siegfried, Ralph, Callum Woodhouse as Tristan and Anna Madeley as Mrs Hall). Hungover after his rowdy stag do at the Drovers Arms, James — who always puts the animals first and is taking his responsibiities even more seriously now that he’s been made a partner in the practice — learns that there is a tuberculosis scare at one of the farms, high up in the hills. Wedding day or not, he rushes to tend to the cows, but will he make it to church in time? And will the small matter of a missing ring spoil the big day. Meanwhile, the looming prospect of war is bringing changes to the village of Darrowby, and as the young Yorkshire lads are signing up to do their bit, the vets are torn about where their duties lie.