All Creatures…

Happy New Year 2022 Movie Review: 

All Creatures Great & Small

As we settle in for wintry nights by our woodstoves or heat vents sipping our tea, it’s good to hear what people are watching. What’s good? More often than not, I scroll through endless streaming movies and proclaim, “There’s nothing good!” It even feels a little wrong that I’ve become so addicted to watching a screen after dinner. I used to go to the library and read before bed. I’ve thought about how pre-TV people sat near their radio or told stories around the campfire. That seems so much better than a TV in every room as we sink into the opiate of endless episodes. Universally, we love a good story. And aren’t those campfire stories basically the same thing as watching a story on TV?

Sort of. I’m guessing the stories our ancestors told were experiences from their own histories. Maybe some stories got bigger with the telling until they were elevated to the stuff of legends. But it holds true that usually the best, most engaging stories we think about long after the lights go out, are the stories based on actual experience. Which is why I must promote the latest TV adaptation of All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot. This is the true story, the memoir of England’s most beloved veterinarian who worked his way into the hearts of his fellow countrymen with his humor and hard work. 

The story begins in 1940, as young James arrives at a country village to begin his new position as a vet’s assistant. His boss is the rather eccentric but good-hearted Siegfried. James portrays his boss, his patients and their owners with detail and honesty. We are with him as he stands shirtless on a cold December morning, knee deep in manure with his entire arm inside that cow struggling in pain from a breached calf. Or as he tries to explain to a loving, but unbelieving, elderly owner that her doggy, “Tricky Woo” is obese from too many treats!

I recommend this show to animal (and people) lovers of all ages. It will move you to tears and/or make you laugh with delight. These stories (and all 8 books) have been such a hit since the mid-1970’s that over 50,000 tourists have visited the actual house where his vet practice was turned into a museum. Season 1 can be found on Amazon Prime, but I’ll be watching Season 2, starting Sunday, January 9th at 9 pm on channel 10 (OPB). 

Enjoy!