Series 01: All Creatures Great & Small (TV Episode)

• Main Cast: Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy, Peter Davison, Carol Drinkwater
• Release Year: 1978
• Run Time: 60 minutes

Plot

Season one of All Creatures Great & Small begins in late 1936 as newly qualified veterinarian James Herriot (Christopher Timothy) arrives at his first assistant's post at Skeldale House, Darrowby, Yorkshire. Here he meets his boss, the irascible Siegfried Farnon, and Siegfried's long-suffering but fun-loving, food-devouring younger brother Tristan (played by future Doctor Who star Peter Davison), who is kept on as a partner despite having flunked out of college. Though he thinks he is thoroughly prepared for his life's calling, James could never have imagined that his first patient would be a little girl's pet turtle. Not long afterward, however, our hero shows his mettle by curing a very valuable horse. In the third of season one's 13 episodes, James meets Helen Alderson (Carol Drinkwater), the farmer's daughter who will one day become his wife. First, however, James must overcome the resistance of Helen's father, who has an inbred distate for everyone in the medical profession. This he does, and by episode ten James and Helen are on their honeymoon...albeit using their spare time to carry out tuberculin testing! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide