New All Creatures Great and Small Channel 5

[icelolly99]

Anyone else looking forward to this? Starts tonight at 9pm.

[Wishihadanalgorithm]

I really enjoyed it. Missed the music and then boom it’s there at the end. It really cheered me up.

[OllysArmy]

I remember reading all the books as a child and being a fan of the TV series but being honest I can’t remember enough to compare although the storyline seemed familiar.

I am taking this as the fresh approach that it is and enjoying a little light entertainment and a break from the news and doom and gloom.

My current mission is to find and hour of TV to make me smile or that interests me each evening.

[Pelleas]

The music took me right back to Sunday nights post bath time.

Yes! If ever there were a series that epitomised Sunday evenings in the 80s, it would be All Creatures Great & Small.

Channel 5 have missed a trick scheduling it on a weeknight.

[icelolly99]

Well I watched the first episode with my 10 year old ds. We've recently watched all The Durrell's series together. We enjoyed this; I'm old enough to remember the original TV series and books being around....but they were not something I actually watched or read! I'll add the books to my 'want to read' list. Nice to see a new actor on TV.
As previous posters have mentioned; weird that Kelly's (Cornish) icecream are the sponsor and annoying that the continuity announcer talked over the music at the end!

[icelolly99]

Oh and for others who might want to watch with children; my TV asked me to enter my parental controls PIN to watch it as 'this programme should only be watched after 10pm' this is nonsense. Enjoy

[Pelleas]

'this programme should only be watched after 10pm'

How odd! C5 showed it at 9pm.

[ineedaholidaynow]

Kelly’s Ice Cream is now owned by a company based in Yorkshire

[Pobblebonk]

[quote Toddlerteaplease]@Pobblebonk but they've already changed the stories beyond recognition! I was looking forward to the Diana Brompton, falling asleep under the tree and dreaming that Siegfried was German. [/quote]
You didn't seriously expect all of that in one episode, did you?

And, indeed, you can't decide they've changed stories beyond all recognition based on one episode anyway.

[Pobblebonk]

@managedmis

How can it ever live up to the books though? Where is Tristan?

Tristan didn't turn up right at the beginning in the books, either.

[BikeRunSki]

This thread is like Mrs Danvers, Rebecca and the second Mrs de Winter !! The original series may have been universally adored by everyone over 40, but goodness me, the new series is in its infancy, give it a chance. And I totally agree - as far as detail from the books goes, the new series has at least cast a Scottish actor (or an active ego can do a convincing accent at least) to play a Scottish character!

[icelolly99]

Just worked out where I recognised the actor playing Helen. She was in the Oscar winning short film The Silent Child. I'm looking forward to seeing Callum Woodhouse; he was great in The Durrells.

[icelolly99]

.....and Matthew Lewis and Diana Rigg!

[OrlandointheWilderness]

Not sure personally. I'd be less than impressed with a vet at a calving if he behaved like that, and I've never seen an ulcer in a horses foot pop quite that dramatically (and I've seen many dig out!) but I'll give it a go. Unfortunately I know the books backwards and it's grating on me that they aren't sticking to them!

[Ihaventgottimeforthis]

@ineedaholidaynow

Kelly’s Ice Cream is now owned by a company based in Yorkshire

I am shook.

[Ihaventgottimeforthis]

At least the vans are still independent. I can buy my DCs their kelly whips with a clear conscience.

[IntermittentParps]

Pobblebonk, the bit with Diana Brompton, and James falling asleep under the tree and dreaming that Siegfried was German, all happen right at the start of the first book (dreaming about Siegfried happens first, then he meets Diana), so yes, one might reasonably expect them to happen in one episode, preferably the first!

[Clawdy]

Love Kellys Ice Cream, but all the shops I go in only seem to do Honeycomb Crunch or Clotted Cream! So many other lovely flavours in Kellys, but not easily available.

[peonia]

I love the books and understand that adaptations can't always follow books to the letter. However James comes across as a dweeb with zero personality whereas in the books he's witty and very insightful. I agree with the PP who said that a lot of the character is lost with the lack of first person narration.

I also think they need a better farming "expert" to advise them...no one who keeps horses would have their stable yard covered in 6 inches of mud and have their horses standing in it - can cause no end of trouble. I don't particularly nit pick about small details in TV shows but that sea of mud just seemed contrived for a 'joke' to have James kicked into it. Also why did he put his suit jacket straight back on top of a muddy shirt!

[Soozikinzii]

We lived it pure escapism just what we need!

[RedRiverShore]

@Clawdy

Love Kellys Ice Cream, but all the shops I go in only seem to do Honeycomb Crunch or Clotted Cream! So many other lovely flavours in Kellys, but not easily available.

Our large Waitrose sells lots of the flavours, Cherry bakewell, Eton mess and others

[Clawdy]

Oh, wish we lived near Waitrose , that sounds bliss!

[MansfieldParkPug]

Peonia, I so agree. The sea of mud was ridiculous, but what bugged me (particularly as the daughter of a late vet, who graduated in about 1947) was James’s incompetence, which seemed to have been introduced purely for comic effect. A vet with six years’ hard training would never have displayed such fear faced with a bull. He might have felt it, but would never have shown it.

[SerenDippitty]

He did once get pissed tasting someone's home made wine but it wasn't on his first day in the job. You do realise in the books what a different attitude there was to drink driving.

[IntermittentParps]

He did once get pissed tasting someone's home made wine

Is that the one where he then has to go out to a calving and the farming family are strict Methodists? IIRC he's rolling about in the straw trying to calve the cow with a flat cap on, which keeps falling off. He drunkenly gets obsessed with keeping the cap on and the farmer keeps very gently replacing it every time it comes off. He is convinced that the farmer knows perfectly well that he's blotto, but the guy doesn't say a word about it.

[Elderflower14]

My favourite episode was the "ghostly monk" which scared James one night at an Abbey!! 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣