‘A TRICKI CASE’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

I was really getting into the spirit of this new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series being shown on Channel 5 on UK TV in September 2020. That’s because…well, I found the fourth episode very funny.

I mean it! The comedy in the fourth episode works really well. It’s something I didn’t expect to find compared to watching the original TV series from 1978-1990. It works well for the main characters too.

As indicated in the episode’s title, ‘A Tricki Case’ is of course about Tricki-Woo. And that means another appearance of the late Diana Rigg playing Mrs. Pumphrey, Tricki-Woo’s owner in the series.

I was very happy to see Diana Rigg again in this episode. It hadn’t been long since she passed away following the transmission of the second episode on UK TV. I’m still in shock about Diana passing away.

In the episode, James Herriot takes drastic action to help sort out Tricki-Woo’s weight problem. He decides to take him away from Mrs. Pumphrey’s house in order for the dog to live at Skeldale House.

This has been done before in the original series’ third episode with Tricki-Woo and Mrs. Pumphrey. I like how the new TV series tackled this storyline, adapting it from the original ‘James Herriot’ books.

It’s pretty funny when the weight problem got worse with the open hamper supplied by Mrs. Pumphrey. 😀 Never leave a hamper open for Siegfried, James, Tristan and Tricki-Woo to look into! 😀

The veterinary trio of Nicholas Ralph as James, Samuel West as Siegfried and Callum Woodhouse as Tristan has grown on me. I’m getting to like these characters and how they interact as a threesome.

Whilst they’re not a match on Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and Peter Davison in the original series, I’m convinced that these three actors are the characters they’re playing and are doing a good job. 🙂

The interaction between James, Siegfried and Tristan is great fun. I like Siegfried more as I watch the episodes, since Samuel West does him well. Quite a contrast to how I viewed him at the beginning. 😐

I liked the moment where Siegfried admitted to James that it wasn’t Tristan’s fault in getting Tricki-Woo overweight. James entrusted Tristan to look after the dog and Siegfried sort-of ruined it here. 🙂

It was also amusing when Tristan attempted to get some money off from Siegfried in order to secure his position at the veterinary college he was meant to return to. Siegfried wasn’t so willing about it.

In the end, Siegfried ends up not giving Tristan the money, as he decides to tutor him at Skeldale House himself. It’s something that Tristan’s not very happy about. I don’t blame him in the episode. 😀

I was delighted to see Seán Carlsen playing Joe Mulligan in the episode, along with his big dog Clancy. Seán Carlsen has appeared in ‘Doctor Who’, both in the TV series and the Big Finish audios. 🙂

Joe Mulligan and his dog Clancy was a nice echo of the original 1978-1990 TV series to be found in the 2020 remake. It was so amusing to see Siegfried and Tristan’s reactions to the big dog in the episode.

A shame no ‘womitin’ was mentioned in the episode. Mind you, it might have been an invention of the original series. I found it funny how Tristan managed to handle the big dog Clancy in the closing scene.

It was also nice to see the sort-of romantic relationship progressing between James and his love interest Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson. They do seem to be getting on very well with each other.

I wasn’t sure how it was going to progress by the time the first season came to an end. I was hoping it would be a positive outcome between the two, despite Helen being committed to Hugh Hulton.

It’s intriguing how the new series doesn’t rush the relationship between James and Helen in Series 1 compared to how the original series did it. Then again, there are about six episodes in Series 1 here.

The episode also features Anna Madeley as Mrs. Hall, who referees between Siegfried and Tristan very often. We also learn more about Mrs. Hall’s family and her estranged relationship with her son.

There’s also Matthew Lewis as Hugh Hulton, who sort-of forgives James following the third episode. James also fixes Hugh’s car. A pity James had to witness Helen and Hugh canoodling with each other.

We even get to meet Helen’s father Mr. Alderson for the first time in the episode. It was a surprise to see him, as I didn’t think we would ever get to meet more of Helen’s family in the new TV series. 🙂

Tony Pitts plays Richard Alderson, Helen’s father in the series whilst Imogen Clawson plays Jenny, Helen’s sister. Yes, even Jenny makes an appearance in the episode, rescuing James from her dad. 😀

For a while, we hadn’t seen much of Helen’s family apart from her sister. I wasn’t sure if Helen had a father by this point. It’s a rocky start since Mr. Alderson thought James was stealing eggs in the episode.

I mentioned it in a previous episode, but Helen’s mother is dead in the new show. Quite a contrast to the original series where we actually saw Helen’s mother, even though she didn’t really say much in her episode!

In the original series, Helen also seemed to have brothers and sisters compared to one sister in the new TV show. Jenny is a lot friendlier compared to the brothers and sisters Helen had in the original show.

There seems to be something going on regarding one of the cows that Helen wants James to check up on, since Jon Furlong as Mr. Dobson is there. This storyline will be followed up in the next episode. 😐

Mollie Winnard returns to play Maggie, the Drovers’ barmaid in the episode. Apparently, Maggie had stayed overnight at Skeldale House with Tristan, as they’re seen sleeping on the living room couch. 😀

It was funny when Tristan tried to keep Maggie hidden whilst also helping her to escape before Siegfried or Mrs. Hall saw her. Eventually, Mrs. Hall finds her in the cupboard and she lets her go free. 🙂

I enjoyed it when Tristan met up with Maggie in the Drovers’, as he shares his problem on how to help Trick lose weight by giving him walks. Thankfully, a fishing rod with food on it provides the answer. 🙂

Overall, ‘A Tricki Case’ has been a fun ‘All Creatures’ episode to sit through. I genuinely found myself laughing a lot at many of the comedic moments featured in the episode and getting engaged with it.

This especially concerned Tricki-Woo and the three main leads: James, Siegfried and Tristan, who tried to sort out Tricki’s weight problem. I feel that James, Siegfried and Tristan are better as characters. 🙂

Whilst I will always love the original 1978-1990 series, I do feel the 2020 remake has done well for itself in echoing something of the original series whilst also providing a new slant on it, which is good.

It’s something I didn’t expect when viewing the new series on TV. I hoped the new series would continue to be better in the next two episodes and the Christmas Special coming in December 2020.

The tribute to Diana Rigg on TV was given again at the end of the fourth episode like it was given at the end of the third episode. A shame the tributes can’t be found at the end of the episodes on DVD.

‘A Tricki Case’ rating – 9/10

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