This third season of the remake of the classic series has become the best season of All Creatures Great and Small (2020) to date due to its strong focus on character development. The third season of All Creatures Great and Small premiered in September 2022 on the British commercial channel Channel 5. A few months later, Dutch viewers were able to experience this season on BBC First, where the Christmas special was also broadcast in the last week of the year. This third season was recorded in March in the north of Yorkshire and it was already clear then that there will be a fourth season anyway.
This season starts with preparations for James and Helen's wedding. Both are busy with work and it seems that both James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) and Helen Aldersen (Rachel Shenton, Hollyoaks) are running away from it. James tries to persuade the farmers of the Yorkshire Dales to have all their cows tested for tuberculosis. The farmers are logically hesitant about this, despite the benefits for public health, this is also a major risk for their own survival. Meanwhile, Helen struggles with her father's farm duties and the duties of her younger sister Jenny (Imogen Clawson).
In addition to attention to rural life and the ups and downs of the animals, the episodes of this third season also explicitly focus on the personal circumstances of the main characters. This all takes place in the second half of 1939, with the war in rural Europe as a backdrop. We get to see how Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West, Mr Eldridge) struggles heavily with his past in The Great War (World War I) and that he is certainly not alone in this. Housekeeper Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley, Mr Selfridge) has concerns about her relationship with her son Edward. What Edward still carries with her from his father's divorce, as Edward prepares to leave with his naval unit.
Siegfried, Tristan (Callum Woodhouse, Cold Feet) and James have an army exemption as vets. While Siegfried is glad he doesn't have to go to war anymore, James and Tristan feel pretty torn between their loyalty to the farmers versus their duty to serve the country. Meanwhile, more and more young men from Darrowby and the surrounding area are leaving for their military training. Life is going to change drastically and everyone has to make difficult choices. In the Christmas episode, all difficult issues come together and all characters make important choices for the future under difficult circumstances.
The third season has again become a particularly successful whole. I found the great attention to character development and the experiences of the main characters a very strong point compared to the original BBC series from 1978. The characters are lifelike and all convincing. It is also nice that things like Siegfried's sometimes very hot-tempered behavior are placed much more in context. I was also pleased to see that, despite the traditional cast of the 1930s, Rachel Shenton manages to portray her character Helen Alderson as a determined strong woman.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
