SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve seen the fourth Christmas Special of the ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Channel 5 TV series, shown on the 21st of December 2023. I greatly enjoyed watching it! It was nice to sit down to after my parents and I enjoyed a good day in Cardiff at the Winter Wonderland and Bute Park light trail. 🙂

Seeing an ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Christmas Special has become a tradition these past four years. My parents and I look forward to seeing the ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Christmas Special on TV every year as well as every season of the new TV series since it all began in September 2020. 🙂

In the Christmas Special called ‘On a Wing and a Prayer’, we follow on from the end of Series 4 of the new TV series where Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot has joined the RAF and Rachel Shenton as Helen is having her and James’ baby. 🙂 James is hoping to see Helen again over the Christmas period.

Unfortunately, James isn’t allowed by his commanding officer to go home to see his wife for Christmas, and he’s been asked to attend to one of the RAF’s birds that can’t fly. I was anxious for James in not being able to see Helen for Christmas. I wondered whether he would have that chance.

There was one point where James tried to get away in a lorry in order to get to Darrowby and he gets a lift with Antonio Galas as Michael Collins, a father who’s looking for his daughter’s cat, in his van. Unfortunately, James is found by his commanding officer and is told to get into his car to return to the RAF base, which is so unfortunate.

As the special progressed, there seemed no chance of James returning to Skeldale at all for Christmas. But by the time James has healed the bird and is able to fly, his commanding officer has a change of heart and he drives him home to be reunited with Helen and everybody else in Skeldale. 🙂

It’s also where James gets to see his new-born son for the first time, whom Helen had on Christmas Day. I knew a ‘Call the Midwife’ element would be in this Christmas Special. 😀 Helen also decides to name her and James’ new-born son after him. That matches to how the original TV series did things.

Speaking of which, it’s intriguing to see how the new TV series handles James’ involvement in the Second World War, since we get to see him reunited with Helen and everyone else over Christmas and he gets to see his baby son, which is something the original BBC TV series frankly never did at all.

I mean, at the end of Series 3 of the original TV series, James is seen being driven to fight in the war and by the time we get to the 1983 Christmas Special, James returns to be reunited with his wife and their son Jimmy is already a little boy. I wonder how things were handled in the James Herriot books.

It was also good to see Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon, as he and James Anthony-Rose as Richard Carmody do their best to support Mrs. Hall’s community efforts. This is especially when they move the Christmas celebrations to the Drovers Arms instead of having it in Skeldale House as they normally do.

Anna Madeley as Mrs. Hall does her best to support Helen, especially when she’s about to have the baby on Christmas Day during the celebrations at the Drovers. Helen also has the support of Imogen Clawson as his sister Jenny Alderson, who comes over to Skeldale whilst everyone’s in the Drovers. 🙂

It was intriguing to uncover more about Carmody as a character and how he feels about Christmas, since his family doesn’t celebrate it and they happen to be atheists. It was amusing to see Carmody enjoying Christmas, especially dressed up as green Father Christmas and having too much to drink. 😀

The special’s cast also includes Mollie Winnard as Maggie at the Drovers; Tony Pitts as Richard Alderson, Helen’s father; and Patricia Hodge as Mrs. Pumphrey along with Tricki-Woo (apparently played by two dogs, including Derek and Dora). It was nice to see these characters in the special.

I was hoping that Callum Woodhouse as Tristan would have made a cameo appearance at the end of this Christmas Special. Sadly, that never came to be, which is a shame. I hope we do get to see Tristan again soon. 🙂 I’ve missed his presence throughout Series 4 as well as this Christmas Special.

It seems that Carmody is going to stay on in the TV series whilst James and Tristan are away to do their part in the Second World War. I’m not sure if we’re going to follow either Siegfried, Carmody or Helen as the main character(s) in Series 5, should that occur in 2024, especially with James being absent. 😐

Maybe that’s why the last episode of Series 4 didn’t feature James at all and focused a lot on Helen, Siegfried, Mrs. Hall and Carmody as characters. It must have been an episode to prepare us for what will happen in Series 5 in the New Year. We’ll have to wait and see what happens when ‘All Creatures’ returns.

Despite what the future will bring, I’m glad I’ve seen the latest ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Christmas Special on TV recently. I’m pleased James got to be reunited with Helen in the special’s closing act and that he got to see his baby son before he’s about to return to do his role in the war. 🙂

The episode felt very reassuring as I watched it. Despite Tristan’s absence, it was nice to see how the other main characters developed like James, Helen, Siegfried and Mrs. Hall. Carmody has become a permeant member of the Skeldale family. 🙂 It’s a contrast to his role in the original BBC TV series. 😀

Incidentally, I’m glad James and Helen gave their cat Oscar from Series 4 to Michael Collins, the father who was looking for his daughter’s cat, at the special’s end. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂