All Creatures Great and Small

The guy in the middle is kinda hot

My late mother loved the original series (as do I). I'll look forward to seeing this.

I watched All Creatures Great & Small faithfully on PBS, growing up and I don’t recall a thing about.

I hate heartwarming and very low-key entertaining.

The books are good too. Call the Midwife with animals.

I'll watch

Loved the original series. But this looks good.

I grew up in rural western New York in the 70s and 80s, my family had a small farm with livestock (cows, sheep, horses), chickens, ducks, turkeys. We also raised Labrador Retrievers, as my father was a duck hunter. We watched All Creatures weekly on PBS, it was one of few things we did together that didn't involve arguing and resentment. There were countless scenarios that resonated with us - not just the health of animals. Small towns, farming communities, the shut-in, poverty and ignorance, people who never ventured more than a few miles from where they were born...all these experiences added to the charm and drama of small-town life. It took us out of ourselves, gave us noble pride in the idea of a simple way of life. I'm reminded that Thomas Jefferson, despite his accomplishments as an architect, statesman, scientist, mechanic, builder, and inventor, continued to identify first as a farmer.

I'm a city dweller now for more than 25 years, but when the family gets together for holidays and birthdays, we still get a laugh when we recall the rich old lady and "Trickie-Woo." I don't miss mucking out after the livestock, or endlessly fretting over broken fences, but I do miss marking the seasons with beekeeping chores, and the way light played on the pasture and woods. The show gave me and my sibs a sense of dignity in the way we spent our youth: were were too busy for silly things, too preoccupied with chores to plan ambitious futures. Still, we all managed to pursue meaningful careers.

"All Creatures" is hands-down the finest television depiction of that kind of life, and it is timeless.

Sorry, but I have no use for some stupid remake. Are there going to be "people of color" unrealistically populating the little valley in Yorkshire? I go out of my way to boycott unnecessary remakes. They unfairly erase the originals in the public consciousness.

This has played and OP is right. Charming, very much in the Durrells canon. Must say Timothy and Prunellas' son has aged very well.

It's quite beautiful. And it features Dame Diana Rigg in her final role.

[quote] If you liked The Durrells,

Callum Woodhouse played Leslie Durrell. In All Creatures Great and Small he plays a bratty douchebag who tries to redeem himself to get his older brother's approval.

Nicholas Ralph, playing the protagonist James Herriot, sure is cute.

Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter films) is a regular who is in love with the woman James Herriot has a crush on. Plust Herriot kills his horse (drama!).

It features some of the best countryside shots this year.

New one on Masterpiece tonight in the U.S.

How wonderful, OP. Thanks for letting me know.

I read all of the books and watched the original on PBS the small tv while the rest of my family watched whatever else was popular at the time. Your post immediately took me back to the time when I was dying to get out of small town USA and go see the world--even if it was small town Great Britain...

Is this a dollface thread?

Loved the books and the original series. Not interested in this remake. The original was the best.

Give it a shot, r15. You might be pleasantly surprised. I was.

Great and evocative post, R8.

I watched it and the Yorkshire dales are breathtakingly beautiful. The scenery is like porn.

Also I want the new Tristan to pound the shit outta me.

You are right R10 — I’ve always had a soft spot for Tim & Pru’s son. A gorgeous voice. Unexpectedly sexy on such a slight frame.

Neville Longdick is in the show.

Love you R5.

Watched the first episode last night and was a bit disappointed. Sweet-intentioned as it is, it was so damn predictable in plot and characters.

I love the lead but I was wish he was surrounded with a more interesting ensemble. The older vet and his housekeeper are too young and attractive....those roles would be better served by more interesting character actors. The girl who plays (what I assume will be) the love interest seems ok but her hairstyling is atrocious and distracting. Not her fault, of course, but I think she will be hard for me to love (I'm shallow!).

Diana Rigg looks a little "out of it" in the previews, but we'll see. I do look forward to Callum Woodhouse, who I really liked in The Durrells. And speaking of The Durrells, I wish this series was as quirkily cast and played. The landscapes are indeed breathtaking and there are worse ways of spending Sunday night....I hope it improves..

A reminder to all fans to tune in tonight for Episode 2!

I like it so far

I loved the books and the original miniseries. I think this edition is quite good so far. And yes, the scenery is like porn.

I once was at an art exhibition of the turn-of-the-century Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi in a London museum and recognized Samuel West there: he was wearing a completely ratty old sweater with huge holes in it. (I think hhe was trying to look inconspicuous, but the huge holes in the sweater made him look all the more noteworthy.) He was looking at me recognizing him, and so he tried to avoid me--I actually felt awful he was trying to avoid me (I had no interest in talking to him once I had spotted him, because I would have had nothing to say: "Uh, I remember you from 'Howards End'" is not a very interesting thing to say to someone.) I tried to avoid him, but I kept ending up in the same rooms as he was in--it was kind of awful. I wanted to see the exhibit, not him; but once you spot someone you know from TV in a public space, it's hard not to gawk.

Something about the writing in this series is very off. Not up to Masterpiece Theatre standards, if you ask me. Pretty scenery, delicious leading man, but that's about it.

And the Masterpiece Mystery that preceded it and debuted tonight, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, was even worse. Horrendous (again, the leading man, a hunkier Hugh Jackman-type, was quite delicious)!

[quote] The Ghost of Alistair MacLean

I like the writing. It's very low key, very unpretentious. I cannot believe I am so moved because a cow is about to die.

r28, that's Alaistair Cooke, not Alaister MacLean.

Ooops. Oh, dear.

I was surprised at how much Samuel West looks like Robert Hardy, who played Siegfried in the original.

[quote]Diana Rigg looks a little "out of it" in the previews

Probably a reason for that.

Diana Rigg appears so much older than those other great Dames, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Sadly, very frail.

You know she's dead, right, r34?

Did anyone else watch the "LGBT Thriller" B&B starring Callum Woodhouse?

I did not. I just looked it up on IMDb. I find the trailer confusing, but I am intrigued.

Is the alternate title I'm Not Running a B&B Here?

I know Diana Rigg is dead. But Dame Maggie could keel over tomorrow and I'd still say she looked a helluva lot healthier in her final days than Dame Diana.