All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Series 1 Collection

Writing in VL-1/98, Nicole Plympton called the first season of All Creatures Great & Small "[a] thoroughly enjoyable BBC production, based on the best-selling books by James Herriot, full of slow charm, leisured chit-chat, and subtle British humor. In the opener, Herriot (played by Christopher Timothy) arrives in a small English farming community still wet behind the ears from veterinary school in search of a job. Here, the young modern veterinarian with highfalutin medical tricks meets village old-timers with old-fashioned animal doctoring, setting the stage for domesticated war. The English accents and slang are fairly heavy, but that quibble aside, this will make a very nice addition to general collections." Featuring all 13 episodes from the first season in 1978, the image quality on this four-disc set leaves a little to be desired (though, to be honest, the flat, grainy look is pretty much endemic to the low budget BBC shot-on-video productions from this period), but true fans will really enjoy the bonus 48-minute documentary featuring James Herriot (a pseudonym that Alf Wight took from a soccer player), who, as he tells us, was 50-years-old before he "picked up a pen." Warmly recommended. (R. Pitman)