REVIEW: All Creatures Great And Small, Series 1 Episode One 'Horse Sense'

 

REVIEW: All Creatures Great And Small, Series 1 Episode One 'Horse Sense'

Lately I have been rewatching the excellent BBC drama series All Creatures Great And Small on UKTV Play, so whilst I am making my way through the final series I thought I would take a look back at my review for the very first episode, 'Horse Sense'.

This episode does a great job of setting up the world of the veterinary practice, but is not so good at setting up the character of James Herriot. We don't even get to meet his parents here; it just drops us straight into James visiting the practice to apply for the role of Siegfried's assistant.

I much prefer Christopher Timothy's James to the one from the recent Channel 5 series though; this James seems much more confident and knowledgable than the current iteration.

As for Siegfried, I'm liking the Robert Hardy version from what I've seen here. I think from what I've seen in episode one, he is probably currently on par with the Samuel West version. It's a different take to the modern version - less irritable and more amenable.

A much shorter review for the first episode than I remembered then, although to be fair this was the first of many reviews of the original series which grew longer over time.

I also came to this first episode having only seen the Channel 5 version, so these early reviews tend to focus mainly on the comparisons between the 1978 classic and the 2020 remake. It is interesting to note the differences in the way the story is told, as it demonstrates how much television drama is forced to adapt to different audiences over time.

What are your views on the first episode of All Creatures Great And Small? Let me know in the comments.