In the first of his many bestselling novels, If Only They Could Talk, the newly qualified veterinary surgeon James Herriot arrives in Yorkshire fresh out of Glasgow University. There, the whey-faced and extremely wet‑behind‑the‑ears rookie begins his new life as an assistant in the practice owned by his new boss, Siegfried Farnon.
After a couple of weeks going about his business under the hawk-eyed supervision of his extremely eccentric but avuncular employer, Herriot is finally handed the responsibility of working in and around the village of Darrowby on his own. The locals – many of them harbouring deeply entrenched views of how their pets and livestock should be treated – greet his methods and very presence with deep suspicion and mistrust.
