REVIEW: All Creatures Great And Small, Series 1 Episode Six 'Nothing Like Experience'

 REVIEW: All Creatures Great And Small, Series 1 Episode Six 'Nothing Like Experience'

Originally published in 2020, here are my thoughts on All Creature's sixth episode 'Nothing Like Experience'.

Given the worldwide pandemic that has struck the world as of late, it feels oddly appropriate to watch a piece of television drama that shows characters catching the flu in the middle of flu season. 2020 has been a year where we have been required to be extra cautious in order to avoid falling seriously ill and passing a transmittable virus onto others, and so there is an extra layer of believability to a plot like this one, where we see characters facing the same struggles that have become commonplace in this year like no other. 

Having said that, this episode still surprised me in the way that it handled this aspect of the narrative. You see, 'Nothing Like Experience' doesn't devote as much time to these characters having to deal with their illness as you would think. I expected Siegfried's (Robert Hardy) flu to last the entire episode as in the Channel 5 version, but in the original take he actually recovers from the flu pretty quickly. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, but it does demonstrate how these two versions have a very different approach to the source material. Whereas the BBC version feels like a more straight adaptation of the books, almost like reading chapters in a story, the Channel 5 version has a more episodic format, where a character's struggles take up an entire episode rather than dismissed within the first fifteen or twenty minutes of an episode.

The episode does feature another illness. A very serious one, in fact. Billy Dalby (Cyril Appleton) - Mrs. Dalby's (Janet Davies) husband, who James visits in the episode - is admitted to hospital at the end of the narrative with pneumonia. This is something which strangely you don't see explored a great deal on television, given that it is a very serious illness, and so it's great to see All Creatures cover it (albeit briefly) here. You do feel for Mrs. Dalby though, as you'd imagine it must be a very worrying thing to happen. It also leaves only herself and her son William Dalby (Stephen Bratt) to run the farm, which is quite a tall order.

James (Christopher Timothy) and Helen's (Carol Drinkwater) second date at the cinema didn't quite seem to go according to plan. Everything that could spoil a trip to the pictures happened in one single showing, with vet clients Gobber Newhouse (Played by frequent Doctor Who guest actor Ivor Salter) and Mr Handshaw (Peter Martin) both whispering comments towards James and Helen, and the wrong film being projected onto the big screen. Instead of the romantic Scottish feature that James was getting, he and Helen are treated to a Western entitled 'Arizona Guns'. It's a really funny sequence that brings the trademark humour the original All Creatures Great And Small was famous for, and it's instantly relatable too. We've all been there, where we've had that one bad experience at the cinema, and we all know what it's like to be distracted by unruly cinemagoers sat behind you as you're trying to watch the flick. James and Helen also make for a great couple; the actors have so much chemistry together, and they really do light up the screen.

The through-line with Mr Cranford (Jack Watson) was very good too. He's clearly a very nasty man, displaying some truly threatening behaviour towards James and just being a general pain in the arse, so it's satisfying when Tristan (Peter Davison) inadvertently causes him to decide to take his business elsewhere. Mr Cranford, you see, later asks Siegfried to examine his boar who has a rash. Siegfried determines that the boar needs ointment, and sends Tristan to deliver it to Cranford. Only Tristan has also been asked to deliver some infected cow dung to the ministry, and accidentally mixes the two packages up, giving Cranford the infected cow dung and the ministry the ointment. And so Canford cuts his ties with the vet practice and seeks treatment for his animals from elsewhere. It's very well scripted, with a great set-up and pay-off.

The same can also be said for the so-called 'ghostly monk'. The script does a great job at setting up this strange mystery, and the resolution given what we know about Tristan is extremely satisfying. It's all one elaborate prank by Tristan, where he dresses as a monk to terrify the locals and make them believe it's a spectral presence. This has to be one of All Creature's most entertaining comedic subplots, and it fits Tristan's 'jokey brother' persona perfectly. It's not hard to imagine Tristan as the kind of character who would take great pleasure from this type of public trolling, especially when it riles up the locals in such an amusing manner.

Overall, 'Nothing Like Experience' is an interesting episode to watch in 2020, featuring various characters struck down by illnesses ranging from the flu to pneumonia. It also gives us a hilariously disastrous date for James and Helen, and one of All Creature's best comedic subplots yet, with the 'ghostly monk' of Darrowby. It is an instalment that is arguably more relevant today than during its initial broadcast in 1978, and will no doubt continue to resonate with audiences for years to come. Especially if the 'ghostly monk' happens to be nearby.

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What are your thoughts on All Creatures Great And Small's sixth episode? Let me know in the comments section.