SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

On Christmas Eve in 2025, we had a double dose of new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ on Channel 5. We had the behind-the-scenes making-of documentary ‘Behind the Magic’ and the Christmas Special called ‘Comfort and Joy’. It was great to see both on the same night!

‘Behind the Magic’ was fascinating, as it was presented by Graeme Hall, well-known for being in the documentary series ‘Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly’ and happens to be a self-confessed superfan of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. I assume that’s for both TV shows.

Graeme Hall cameoed as Ambrose’s friend in the fifth Series 6 episode ‘Fixes’ – the episode where James visits a horse racing course with some dodgy spectators. Not that I’m expecting you to know that. I enjoyed Graeme’s presenting style in the documentary.

I also enjoyed how Graeme got to explore some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, including seeing the set designs for Skeldale House as well as witnessing the filming locations such as Darrowby itself and the Drover’s Arms.

It’s nice that Graeme got to interact with the cast, especially Callum Woodhouse who plays Tristan in the series, as he was given some acting tips before he was about to do his cameo in the ‘Fixes’ episode. He also interacts with Nicholas Ralph whilst making the episode. 🙂

I also enjoyed seeing the actors being interviewed for the documentary including Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Callum Woodhouse, Rachel Shenton, Anna Madeley and Patricia Hodge. The only time the actors have been interviewed was for the Series 1 DVD.

And of course, we had the 2025 Christmas Special called ‘Comfort and Joy’, which was great to watch. The special takes place in December 1945 and it happens to be the first peacetime Christmas following the war. It was good to see that depicted in the special. 🙂

Thankfully, Rachel Shenton as Helen makes a return in this Christmas Special after being absent in the last three episodes of Series 6. However, Helen is rather poorly in this special, which is a shame, as it means there’s not much of Helen appearing in this special.

At least she’s back in ‘All Creatures’ for Christmas. 🙂 I was anxious about whether she’d return or not. It turned out Rachel Shenton was pregnant at the time of Series 6 and the 2025 Christmas Special. Meanwhile, James is put in charge of the annual Darrowby Nativity play this year.

Unfortunately, many of the performers have caught colds and James has had to attend to Patricia Hodge as Mrs. Pumphrey and her dog Tricki-Woo. It was amusing to see James and Helen’s children Jimmy and Rosie performing the Nativity play as well as the animals.

As an observation, I’m pleased to see how confident James’ character, played by Nicholas Ralph, has grown confident over the years in the new ‘All Creatures’ TV series. It’s a contrast to how he began in new ‘All Creatures’ when he was inexperienced as a vet.

Anna Madeley as Mrs. Hall also gets a Skeldale darts team together to win a turkey for Christmas dinner. Thankfully, they win the turkey, but it turns out to be a live turkey, which disappoints the Skeldale team. Jimmy wants to adopt the turkey and he names it ‘Rudolph’.

It was nice to see Thomas Riches as Jimmy in the Christmas Special along with his sister Rosie, played by this time by Isabella Ward. It was also good to see Samuel West as Siegfried reunited with Maimie McCoy as Dorothy, who returns after appearing in Series 1.

I wasn’t expecting Dorothy to make a return in ‘All Creatures’. It was nice to see Siegfried and Maggie kiss under the mistletoe whilst at the Drover’s. It was also good to see Callum Woodhouse as Tristan with Gaia Wise as his girlfriend Charlotte Beauvoir in this special.

Incidentally, I just found out that Gaia Wise is the real-life daughter of Emma Thompson and Greg Wise, who both appeared together in the 1995 film ‘Sense and Sensibility’. And I recently discovered that Emma Thompson and Greg Wise are married in real life. So uncanny! 😀

Charlotte helps Tristan with getting a new Christmas tree for Mollie Winnard as Maggie at the Drover’s Arms. I like that Maggie’s loss of her husband and Tristan’s loss of his friend in World War II was addressed in the special, as the Christmas lights are put on in the Drover’s.

‘Comfort and Joy’ has been a rewarding and very comforting ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Christmas Special to watch and I’m pleased I saw it along with the ‘Behind the Magic’ documentary on Christmas Eve. It was lovely to spend over two hours of ‘All Creatures’ lately. 🙂

At this point, Series 7 of new ‘All Creatures’ will be on its way as well as another Christmas Special no doubt and Series 8 after that. 😀 I look forward to returning to the world of ‘All Creatures’ when the time comes in 2026, as seeing this series has been very cosy indeed.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂