All Creatures Great and Small (ACGAS) fans will be eagerly awaiting new episodes to drop on Channel 5 as the drama has been confirmed for another two seasons. The period drama was reintroduced in 2020 and has attracted a whole new generation of fans to the beloved James Herriot novels.
They were first adapted for television in 1978 on BBC One and ran between 1978 and 1990. Original fans of the heartwarming show will remember actress Carol Drinkwater starring as Helen Anderson, who was James Herriot’s (played by Christopher Timothy) original love interest.
But Carol did not remain part of the cast for the series’ full run. In fact, the star left the show in 1985 after appearing in 42 episodes and two TV movies based on the series.
Speaking on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on Sunday, the 76-year-old opened up about the return of All Creatures Great and Small. During the interview, Carol was shown an old clip of herself from the series, which left her very teary-eyed as she had “forgotten” ever filming that particular scene.
“Oh that shows us Britain of times gone by, we see less and less now,” Alan said to his guest, as Carol wiped tears away from her eyes.
“I’ve never seen that before”, Carol emotionally told the show’s host. “I actually don’t remember recording that scene.”
She added: “1978 it started so it must have been one of the last episodes I did, I’m not sure. But I have no memory of it. Seeing it, well, it’s brought a tear to my eye. I always get very teary about All Creatures.”
Carol bowed out of All Creatures Great and Small early and, while she insisted she didn’t do it “to be spiteful”, her decision didn’t go down too well with BBC bosses at the time.
Lynda Bellingham was then cast as Helen following Carol’s exit from the show after three series. Lynda was pregnant during series five, so she was forced to film scenes from a bed and a hole was cut in the mattress to hide her bump.
When Carol left the series, she said: “I’d given everything I could and I couldn’t think where else I could take the role, because there was no more material. I wasn’t leaving in any kind of spiteful thing. The BBC was so angry with me, they put a ban on using me.”
She added: “So they re-cast and another actress got the role. I was terribly upset because it was a wonderful role and would have been very good for me. I must say now, looking back on my career, it’s one of the few things in my life I would do differently, and I wouldn’t have left.”
Speaking to Alan on Sunday, Carol also said that she hadn’t seen much of the new series yet, but had seen an episode from the first series of the reboot, when actress Diane Rigg was playing Mrs Pumphrey.
“I wanted to play Mrs Pumphrey and they didn’t give it to me. They gave it to Diana Rigg,” she admitted to the TV gardener. Mrs Pumphrey is the wealthy owner of the Pekingese Tricki Woo in All Creatures Great and Small.
Margaretta Scott played the role in the original edition of the show. Diana portrayed Mrs Pumphrey in the first series of the reboot, with Patricia Hodge having taken over the role in the second series.
Carol has since penned several books, including children’s titles, and has starred in many other television shows. In 2021, she fronted her own series called Carol Drinkwater’s Secret Provence.
