‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Boss Explains War-Ending Time Jump in Season 6

Yorkshire veterinarian James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) has a new assistant to help him through lambing season: his 4-year-old son, Jimmy (Thomas Riches, above, with Ralph). And it’s not the only change in store in the tenderhearted Masterpiece drama’s sixth season, which premieres on PBS on Sunday, January 11: There’s a nearly four-year time jump, from Christmas 1941 to May 1945, as World War II comes to an end in Europe.

It’s a surprise for a series that tends to move at a beautifully leisurely pace. Until now, All Creatures Great and Small seasons have taken place in successive years, beginning in 1937, but, says executive producer Melissa Gallant, “if we were to continue the story chronologically for another four years, we could have ended up having a show in which we played more seasons in the war than out of it. The war has given us really rich, wonderful stories, but it’s time for a new chapter.”

Not surprisingly, all of the main characters are in different places — physically and emotionally — than they were when viewers last saw them. James and wife Helen (Rachel Shenton) have welcomed a second child, daughter Rosie, and moved in with Helen’s father (Tony Pitts) on the family farm, Heston Grange. Fun fact: The scenes of James and Jimmy birthing lambs were inspired by the memories of Jim Wight, the veterinarian son of the real James Herriot (pen name of Alf Wight), who advises the series inspired by his father’s books.

Samuel West and Anna Madeley (Courtesy of Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE)

Although James still works at Skeldale House, senior vet Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West) is living alone at the clinic-cum-residence, which has started to resemble a pigsty. “Being left on his own makes him go a little off the rails,” Gallant previews. “He’s such an enjoyable character when he’s difficult or vulnerable — and especially when he’s both.”

Of course, Siegfried still has his pet rats, and an occasional human female companion, but not Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley). The housekeeper he was so fond of left Darrowby to care for her son, Edward (Conor Deane), who was severely injured in the war when the ship he was serving on sank.

The conflict also left its mark on Tristan (Callum Woodhouse), who is just back from a tour of duty with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Usually chatty, Siegfried’s happy-go-lucky younger brother is anything but when it comes to talking about his time in Italy, something not uncommon in servicemen returning home at the time.

“I think Tristan has probably had to evolve and learn the most [of all the characters],” Gallant says, noting that a writing challenge was “truthfully scoping out this story of a man of that era but also telling a story for a modern audience.”

Original showrunner Ben Vanstone (A Gentleman in Moscow) returned to write the season premiere, which brings the gang back together. “It’s a time of repair and restoration and hope and uncertainty,” Gallant notes. “All those things put our characters in quite an interesting place.”

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Also returning this season are grande dame Mrs. Pumphrey (Patrica Hodge), in search of a breeding mate for her pampered Pekingese pooch Tricki (Dora), and Helen’s younger sister, Jenny (Imogen Clawson), who has a decision to make about her future. (Helen’s absence from two episodes is due to Shenton’s pregnancy. She gave birth to son Orson in April 2025.)

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Besides Riches, another fresh face is Gaia Wise (daughter of Emma Thompson), who joins the series in the January 25 episode as Charlotte Beauvoir, a socially prominent young woman with an ailing horse that Siegfried and Tristan battle to help. “Gaia was fabulous,” Gallant praises. “Everybody wanted to write more scenes and episodes for her.”

Once again All Creatures ends its seven-episode season with a Christmas episode, airing after Valentine’s Day. And it’s already been renewed for two more rounds. At the time of TV Insider’s December interview, however, Gallant said she didn’t know whether Seasons 7 and 8 would take place in 1946 and 1947, or whether there would be another time jump.

But she remains excited about the possibilities, thanks to the cast and creative team that tell the show’s subtle yet powerful stories. “The tone has to not edge into something that’s too earnest or saccharine or cutesy or miserable,” Gallant says. “And the cast deliver that: nuanced, moving scenes, and their comedy is wonderful.”

All Creatures Great and Small, Season 6 Premiere, Sunday, January 11, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)

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