The original – and best?

While the reboot of James Herriot’s much-loved Yorkshire vet series was the hit of last year, for many older viewers this, the BBC series, which ran from 1978 to 1990, couldn’t be bettered. That may be because it came at the peak of the books’ popularity. But it was also the inspired casting of Christopher Timothy (right with Lynda Bellingham) as James, Peter Davison as Tristan and Robert Hardy as Siegfried that brought high ratings. Some fans, though, thought the animals were the real stars, including Tricki-Woo the pampered pekingese, and the numerous cows in receipt of undignified attention from Mr ’Erriot’s forearm. Britbox, from Thursday