The premiere of “All Creatures Great and Small” was one of PBS’s biggest hits in 2021. In the middle of an exhausting global pandemic and widespread political tension, viewers enjoyed the lighthearted storylines and picturesque setting in the English countryside.
This January, “All Creatures Great and Small” on MASTERPIECE returns to Panhandle PBS with seven new episodes.
Nicholas Ralph returns as James Herriot, a young vet from Scotland who moves to Yorkshire to take a job in a local veterinary practice in the farming town of Darrowby. The cast also features Samuel West (“Howard’s End”) as James’s charismatic but eccentric boss, Siegfried Farnon; Callum Woodhouse (“The Durrells in Corfu”) as Siegfried’s womanizing and carefree younger brother, Tristan; Anna Madeley (“Patrick Melrose”) as Mrs. Hall, the wise and compassionate housekeeper who becomes a surrogate mother to the three men in her charge; and Rachel Shenton (Academy Award® winner, “The Silent Child”) as the independent-minded and alluring farmer Helen Alderson who becomes the focus of James’s attention. Matthew Lewis (“Harry Potter,” “Happy Valley”) also returns as Helen’s former fiance, Hugh Hulton.
The climax of season one saw Helen call off her impending wedding to wealthy landowner Hugh, having developed a close friendship with James over the course of the first season. After working hard to become accepted by the local farmers and prove himself indispensable, Siegfried made James a senior vet in the Skeldale House veterinary practice. Following years of half-hearted effort, Tristan failed once again, but didn’t have the heart to tell him. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hall was heartbroken when she was unable to reconnect with her estranged son.
As season two opens, James returns from Glasgow where he has been visiting his parents for Easter. While there he is offered a job at a modern local veterinary practice and must decide between staying home in Glasgow with his elderly parents or returning to his new life in Yorkshire.
Season two of “All Creatures Great and Small” premieres Sunday, January 9 at 8:00 p.m. on Panhandle PBS.
