ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

Channel 5, 9pm

As this soothing drama returns with a second series set in 1938, the practice must respond to the fact that more and more people are keeping pets.

Veterinary surgeon Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West, above) certainly won’t win himself any fans. He says: “Why people keep animals as pets is beyond me. A dog should have a function. Let it be used for farm work, for shooting, for guiding, not just hanging about the place.”

Nonetheless, his little brother Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) is trusted enough to go and trim the beak of someone’s pet budgie.

It’s been three months since the end of the last series and vet James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) makes a trip back home to Glasgow, where he’s faced with a dilemma.