From the first notes of the theme song and the opening illustrations to the stunning landscapes and familiar characters, every moment of All Creatures Great and Small brings viewers home to the warm and cozy world of James Herriot and the Darrowby community. As Season Five makes its way to screens this month, here are a few fun facts about how the team set the stage for the opening sequence.
Alexa Harwood composed the iconic theme music with orchestrations by Geoff Alexander. A childhood fan of the original 1970s All Creatures Great and Small series, Harwood had just started dating a veterinarian when she was hired to compose this music. Sometimes life is full of coincidences. She traveled to the Yorkshire Dales, where the program is filmed, and was struck by the drama of the landscape: beautiful yet harsh with bold contrasts of light and shadow. For two months, her sole focus was the theme music, understanding that those first notes would set the tone for the entire series. “The instructions were to write a theme that made the audience feel like they were in a nice warm bath, comfortable, and to know where they were at the beginning of every show — to feel that they’ve come home to the Dales, to the countryside,” Harwood told MASTERPIECE.
The stunning illustrations of the title sequence cannot be overlooked in setting the tone for the series. Designer Ben Marshall says that James Herriot has always been one of his favorite authors, and he has read every single book in the series. He and his design partner Ed Dalton jumped at the opportunity to work on this project. They started with a live-action sequence, but it wasn’t capturing the “cocoa, warm, charming feeling” they were charged with developing, Dalton told MASTERPIECE. After about 20 concepts, they found inspiration in the idea of travel posters, essentially a “Visit Yorkshire” campaign, and focused on James first arriving, from steam train to bus journey to car to Skeldale House. The idea of welcoming viewers to Skeldale House was key. “Every day after they’ve been out on the Dales — it’s been cold, it’s been hard, they’ve had lots of trials and tribulations — but they always come back home to this nice, warm place, with a fire and a brandy.” In the end, they commissioned illustrator Gary Reford to make the concept real.
The setting for this series is in many ways as important as the characters. It influences their lives in such a profound way. Northern England’s Yorkshire Dales cover 800 square miles and are marked by deep valleys carved by rivers among the bucolic hills. The setting is slightly east of North York Moors, where the books were originally set, but the Dales were chosen for their quintessentially English feel, production designer Jacqueline Smith told MASTERPIECE. The books used the town of Thirsk as the inspiration for Darrowby, but that community has grown to a much larger town without the village feel. Instead, Smith’s team chose Grassington as their Darrowby. “It’s a town that still looks like it did 200 years ago,” she said. “The nice thing was that there weren’t any modern houses in the town center, so we didn’t have to change anything completely.”
When asked what she loves most about the series, MASTERPIECE’s Head of Scripted Content & Executive Producer Susanne Simpson says, “The show is funny and heartwarming. The characters of Skeldale House remind us of the things that are important in life — family, community, and taking care of others, including the animals! The show gives us a sense of comfort to know there is a world of kindness where people love and care for each other.”
All Creatures Great and Small returns for its fifth season this month. James and Tristan return from the war to Darrowby, baby Jim keeps everyone busy, and the animal hijinks continue.
MASTERPIECE/All Creatures Great and Small, Season Five
Sun (1/12, 1/19, 1/26) at 9pm on GBH 2
Repeats:
Saturdays at 9pm on GBH 2
Tuesdays at 9pm on GBH 44
