The delights (great and small) of being the new James Herriot
A fake cow’s bottom and acting with Diana Rigg ... 30 years after the iconic TV series, an unknown Scot plays vet James Herriot in a brilliant remake
AFTER attempting to milk a bull, fending off frisky dogs and being scolded by ill-tempered farmers, he famously concluded: ‘It shouldn’t happen to a vet.’ James Herriot’s charming and hilarious tales of life as a young animal doctor in the 1930s earned him an unique affection in the hearts of millions.
With wit and warm humour, his stories documented not only the sheep, cattle, dogs and cows he treated but also the egos and eccentricities of their owners, from gruff hillfarmers to lonely housewives.
Now, to the delight of those who remember not only his best-selling books but also the TV show they inspired – which ran from 1978 until 1990 – a brand new adaptation of All Creatures Great And Small is set to air.
While many people will be drawn by nostalgia to the Channel 5 reboot, for the young Scot picked to play the starring role, the series represents a chance to discover for the first time the appeal of James Herriot’s rural adventures.
Nicholas Ralph admitted he had not read the books when he auditioned for the role and, at the age of only 30, he had not yet been born when the previous TV adaptation, starring Christopher Timothy, first aired.
But Mr Herriot’s son and daughter are happy the young actor has been cast, saying his accent makes him sound ‘just like Dad’.
Despite the rigours of filming in the notoriously fickle weather of the Yorkshire Dales – and the bizarre experience of trying to give a realistic performance while administering to the rear end of a fake cow – Ralph is delighted to have won such a prominent role for his TV debut.
He said: ‘I had never come across James Herriot or All Creatures Great And Small before the audition.
‘When the script came through I thought the writing was incredible and I felt like I knew the character.
‘I felt an instant connection and I really wanted to play him. But I hadn’t come across the books.
‘During the audition process I watched the first episode of the series from the 1970s, just to get a flavour of the world of James Herriot. I didn’t want to watch more in case I ended up copying, even subconsciously, little things that Christopher Timothy did that might have influenced my performance. Subsequently, I’ve read the books.’
The series was filmed between October and December last year.
Ralph said: ‘We were filming in Yorkshire and the Yorkshire winters can be quite grim, but we’ve seen a few of the episodes and it does look incredible.
‘It’s really exciting. It’s an absolute dream role for me.’
BEFORE filming began on the BBC’s All Creatures Great and Small, star Timothy spent a week shadowing a real vet – and claimed to have learned enough to carry out veterinary procedures. But Ralph had to adhere to new guidelines for filming with animals.
He said: ‘In mid-2019, the rules for animals changed for the first time in 75 years. Now you’re not allowed to do anything to an animal that it doesn’t require and unless you’re trained to do it. So with regards to the hand up the back end and all that stuff I didn’t have to do it. I got away with it with a bit of camera trickery.
‘There was a live birthing of a calf, where a documentary crew filmed it and we went in afterwards and did the extra bits. Then the crew brought in half the back end of a fake cow, so I still went through the process. We were in a big barn with hay everywhere and someone had to move the legs and the tail.
‘The vet kept telling him off for not moving the legs or tail realistically. He kept demonstrating how to move the legs and tail and the legs again. So we had a masterclass on how to manipulate a cow and it looked incredibly realistic afterwards.’
This will be Ralph’s television debut and the one thing that convinced producers was his Scottish ‘burr’ – vital because Mr Herriot grew up north of the Border.
His parents had moved to Glasgow from the North-East of England in 1915 for his father, James Wight, to work as a ship’s plater. His mother, Hannah, was a dressmaker. She
returned to Sunderland the following year to give birth to her son, born James Wight, and brought him to Glasgow when he was only three weeks old.
Educated at Yoker Primary and Hillhead High School, he then spent six years at Glasgow Veterinary College and became a veterinary surgeon in December 1939.
Within a year he had found work as a veterinary assistant in Thirsk, Yorkshire, and spent 50 years in practice, interrupted only by a brief wartime spell in the RAF.
His books – written under the penname James Herriot – about life as a vet helped make him one of
Britain’s best-loved authors. He wrote a series of eight, all set in the 1930s-1950s Yorkshire Dales, about animals and their owners, beginning with If Only They Could Talk, published in 1970.
Numerous TV and film adaptations of his work have appeared since, including the 1975 film All Creatures Great And Small, which starred Anthony Hopkins, and It Shouldn’t Happen To A Vet in 1976.
The hit BBC series, which ran for 90 episodes, starred Timothy – who was also an unknown when he landed the part – alongside Robert Hardy, Peter Davison and Carol Drinkwater. Ralph, originally from
Nairn, landed the part after overcoming a potential stumbling block during auditions, of making sure his accent was suitable.
He said: ‘I auditioned round after round for the American-British production company. There were questions over the accent clarity, and we got through it.
‘It was so much fun because the material was so good.’
The new series has the blessing of the author’s children, Rosie Page and Jim Wight.
Dr Page, a retired GP, said: ‘The new adaptation is not strictly keeping to the books but, having said that, it is entertaining and we enjoyed it. The big advantage Nicholas Ralph has is that he has a Scottish accent. Although Dad was English, he was brought up and educated in Glasgow and never lost his gentle Scottish burr – we like Nicholas’s voice because it sounds more like Dad.’
The new series is produced by PBS America and Bafta and Golden Globe-winning production company Playground Entertainment, known for television adaptations Howards End and Wolf Hall.
Ralph’s co-stars include Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson, a farmer’s daughter in whom Herriot develops a romantic interest.
Samuel West plays Siegfried Farnon, the capricious veterinary surgeon who hires Herriot.
Dame Diana Rigg, now 82, plays eccentric widow Mrs Pumphrey.
Ralph said: ‘We had a couple of days on set with her. She’s brilliant to work with. She is such a legend and has a huge CV of such a wonderful body of work.
‘It could have been a little intimidating, but she was just so lovely from the outset.
‘She did keep everybody on their toes as well, though. There was no messing around with Dame Diana.’
Ralph believes the new series is true to the books, saying: ‘It is the same source material and I imagine, like the original, it is going to be very authentic.
‘The Herriot museum foundation gave us so much material, from the medicine bottles for the dispensary to a lot of the tools and equipment that the vets used back in those days.
‘It’ll also look so authentic because we’re filming on locations in the Yorkshire Dales and with the modern technology, including drone cameras, it will look stunning.’
He insists Herriot’s original storylines have not been ‘sexed up’ for 21st Century audiences.
Ralph said: ‘Throughout, we’re staying really faithful to the originals. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, so there really is no need to sex it up.
‘We’re true to the vet’s life. He gets down and dirty and in among it but nothing on top of that. It’s very much set in the 1930s.’
RALPH was born in Cape Town, South Africa, where his father was working in the oil industry, but brought up in Nairn after his parents returned to Scotland when he was a few months old. He signed to Scottish Premiership club Ross County before taking up acting. After studying drama at Inverness College, he graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow in 2017.
Ralph said: ‘To be introduced into the TV world in this capacity is incredible. You can never dream of that at the start of drama school when you’re dreaming of graduating and a career.’
His previous roles have been in Scottish theatre, including panto.
He said: ‘I played a dog twice. I graduated and did rep for the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow for ten months. The first show I did was based on a Russian book all about guard dogs. We all played the guards and the dogs.
‘The second time was a panto and I was Prince Charming. They had a puppet for the dog but it wasn’t working very well and the director asked me to be the dog.
‘All I seem to do is work with animals and children.’
All Creatures Great and Small is due to be broadcast on Channel 5 this autumn.