All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special 2024 sees Skeldale House's finest face a moving festive season in the Yorkshire Dales.
Set at Yuletide 1941, the episode of the heartwarming Channel 5 and PBS vet drama sees James (Nicholas Ralph) and Helen (Rachel Shenton) gearing up to mark both Christmas and baby Jimmy’s first birthday, despite the wartime shortages.
Meanwhile, head vet Siegfried (Samuel West) encounters an abandoned fox cub, and Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) is given a pigeon-related quest by his boss at the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. But everyone must rally around housekeeper Mrs Hall (Anna Madeley) when she hears upsetting news about the ship on which her son Edward is serving in the Far East.
Here, Nicholas Ralph and Callum Woodhouse tell What to Watch about what’s in store in the All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special 2024…
All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special 2024 is full of tender moments. What is the festive season of 1941 like?
Callum Woodhouse: “It’s heartfelt, because things aren't readily available. The war’s bleeding into everything and it’s affecting everyone’s lives – Mrs Hall’s having to scrape food together for Christmas lunch.”
Nicholas Ralph: “But it's about the family being around for the festive time, and not the materialistic side. People have to think out of the box a bit because you can't just run to the shop and buy something. It’s about people appreciating the effort and thought that has gone into things, which is quite sweet.”
What are their plans for Jimmy’s birthday?
Nicholas Ralph: “James and Helen want to make it special but they have to get creative. There’s a celebration at Heston Grange [Helen’s family farm], but also a familial tiff… We’ve got twins who are about a year old playing Jimmy now, and there were happy accidents that ended up in the show, like when one dunked his hand in his food!”
How does everyone support Mrs Hall as she waits to hear about Edward?
Nicholas Ralph: “She gets news about [Edward’s ship] HMS Repulse being struck and the surrogate Skeldale family’s there for her. Their unit becomes tighter because of what happens. Everyone's got those people in their lives who are the absolute rock, the person they always go to, and then sometimes they are the one that needs you to be there for them.’
Callum Woodhouse: “She almost shies away from letting anyone help her though and tries to be stoical. Anna gives a masterclass performance.”
A local boy, Christopher Taylor (Owen Phillips), asks the vets to help the fox he has found. What was it like filming scenes with the fox?
Nicholas Ralph: “Oh, it was very cute.”
Callum Woodhouse: “Yes, the fox was so sweet, we all came on set to meet it! Mrs Hall feels a connection to it in the story. And Owen as the young lad was brilliant.”
And tell us about Tristan’s mission to locate pigeons…
Callum Woodhouse: “At school I heard about pigeons flying important messages [in the war] and Tristan now has this mission to get them working for the RAVC. He’s not impressed, but then he gets swept up in being a vet to the pigeons, and finds enthusiasm. Pigeons are flappy though and everyone [on set] was worried they’d fly away. But I nailed picking them up, I was the bird whisperer!”
Tristan approaches grouchy pigeon fancier Enoch Sykes, played by dinnerladies’ and Victoria Wood As Seen on TV's Duncan Preston, but they soon clash. What was it like working with Duncan?
Callum Woodhouse: “He’s amazing! I used to watch dinnerladies with my parents and he [Duncan’s character, handyman Stan] was my favourite, we always quote him! He talked about working with [dinnerladies co-stars] Victoria Wood and Julie Walters and shared incredible anecdotes.”
We also see Tristan training some of his men in the RAVC on how to treat mules, which they will encounter while serving abroad. Tell us about that…
Callum Woodhouse: “I loved filming those scenes. You step onto that set and you are just fully in that world. We had the mule, which was a really cool animal. And we had all these guys dressed up and there were bags of ammunition and army vehicles. That does half of the work for you. Tristan has become more work-orientated and knowledgeable about the profession, and now he’s an instructor. There is a little bit of the showman about him, so he’s good at it.”
You always film the Christmas special in the summer, but what got you into the festive spirit?!
Callum Woodhouse: “Grassington [the Yorkshire village that doubles as fictional Darrowby] always looks Christmassy with a huge tree. We also have a scene where we play charades, which makes you think of playing games at home at Christmas!”
Nicholas Ralph: “And catering laid on a Christmas lunch for us but with ice lollies for dessert! I also loved filming the Christmas dinner scenes where the place was decked up, which spread festive cheer and had a magical quality. You do get transported.”
Where will you be watching the Christmas episode?
Nicholas Ralph: “It depends but I always watch it with my folks. As soon as I go home, they are like, ‘Right Nicholas, is it the Christmas episode night?!’ It’s always brilliant as my mum pretends she's not crying!”
Callum Woodhouse: “I'm glad I won't be watching it for the first time with my mother this year, I don't envy you, Nick! She is going to be sobbing! I'll be in London, because I'm rehearsing a play up until the 24th, so I won't get back until Boxing Day. But every year we do watch the Christmas one, and my family will probably get me to watch it again with them, because they always watch the episode multiple times!”
All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special 2024 – the episode will air in the UK on Channel 5 on Monday 23 December at 9pm, and it will also be available on My5. It will air on PBS Masterpiece in the US in 2025.
