All the main players went to the “veterinary training camp”, as Ralph said. “We got close to horses, cows, sheep, everything, and went through some processes, like looking for abscesses. It was intimidating, but you want all the details right; like a vet would touch the animal, wash its hands or wear its glasses around its neck. “
They all learned a lot about farming, said Shenton, whose character runs a dairy farm with his father. “Times were very difficult at that time and people did not have hundreds of animals,” she said. “If someone is sick, it can have a huge effect.”
The original series, noted a review in The Telegraph, “has become synonymous with veterinarians rolling up their sleeves and rummaging around the back ends of frightened-looking cattle.” (The James Herriot Museum in Thirsk, noted the writer, has an interactive installation that allows visitors to “put their hands on a cow’s ass.”) But, recently implemented rules on the use of animals in the film, actors have been spared these experiments and worked with a mixture of live animals and prostheses.
“You have to work with animals that are good at pretending,” said West. “It’s incredible.”
Vanstone said that while the first season is based mainly on Herriot’s first book, a recently commissioned second season will use a mix of the first two to broaden the character’s perspectives and the types of veterinary action on display. The novels include many stories about cows, he said. “I tried to launch a wider network.”
The series’ popularity among the age groups (Channel 5 reported a large portion of the 16- to 34-year-old population) and the public suggests that the program has reached an ideal point for family comfort in a time of national adversity.
“There is something about the program’s focus on the community, the heart and the family that seems to have been particularly resonant at a time when we have all been through something globally difficult,” said Shenton. And then there is the aspect that has less to do with community or creatures than with more transporting pandemic pleasures: the sweeping slopes of Yorkshire and beautiful villages like time capsules.
“None of us have been able to move much in the past year,” said Shenton. “But we spent some time in beautiful Darrowby.”