All the main actors went to the vet camp, as Ralph put it. “We found horses, cows, sheep, everything up close and went through some processes, such as looking for abscesses. It was intimidating, but you want every detail to be right; how a veterinarian would touch the animal, wash his hands or wear glasses around his neck. ‘
They all learned a lot from farming, Shenton said. His character has a dairy farm with her father. “The times were very difficult in that era and people did not have hundreds of animals,” she said. “If someone is sick, it can have a big effect.”
The original series, according to a review in The Telegraph, “became synonymous with veterinarians rolling up their sleeves and scurrying around in the backs of frightening cattle.” (The author noted that the James Herriot Museum in Thirsk has an interactive facility that allows visitors to “put a hand in the back of a cow”.) But recently implemented rules on the use of animals on film have meant that the actors spared the experiences and worked with them a mix of live animals and prosthetics.
“You have to work with animals that pretend to be good,” West said. “It’s quite wonderful.”
According to Vanstone, although the first season relies primarily on Herriot’s first book, a recently released second season will use a mix of the first two to broaden the character perspectives and types of veterinary exhibits. The books contain many stories about cows, he said. “I was just trying to throw a wider net.”
The popularity of the series in age groups (Channel 5 reported much of the 16-34 demographics) and the audience suggests that the program is a sweet spot for family comfort in a moment of national adversity.
“There’s something about the program’s focus on community, heart and family that seemed particularly resonant at a time when we were all going through something globally difficult,” Shenton said. And then there’s the aspect that has less to do with community or creatures than with more transportable pandemic pleasures: the delightful Yorkshire hills and the time-capsule-beautiful villages.
“None of us have been able to move much in the last year,” Shenton said. “But we spent some time in beautiful Darrowby.”