- [Siegfried] So where did it all start for you, wanting to be a vet?
- The stories themselves are timeless.
I mean, that's why they're so popular.
That's why people go back to them time and time again, though it's been a long time since the BBC show aired.
This production I hope just brings a whole new feel to it.
(gently sweeping orchestral music) - Who's this then?
- Siegfried's new assistant.
- Yes.
Another one.
- I think the Herriot stories transcend decades, because they're about togetherness and community.
- Who doesn't love animals, whether it's cats, dogs, cows, horses, whatever?
- It's a window into a world and some amazing people.
- The landscape itself is really the star of the show.
- [James] I didn't expect it to be so beautiful.
- The backdrop of the Yorkshire Dales is a character within itself.
The animals and the backdrop upstage us every time.
(light growling) - That's no way to greet Mr Herriot!
- The animal handlers have done an incredible job of making them better actors than we are.
- The dialogue's so lovely, the relationships are so good, the characters are so three-dimen, these people are so three-dimensional.
- The animals are the easy part.
It's the people cause all the bother.
- I think that what people will take away from it most of all is a sense of community.
- It's a show set in a simpler time, where a community needed to be incredibly strong for people to survive and get through things.
(door bell ringing) - We'll get someone up to your farm right away.
- Thanks so much.
- There's a sense of reality, of work, and, ultimately, of love, for animals, for landscape, for each other.
And I think we could do with a bit of that right now.
- Just try and make it through the day.
(car horn beeping) - Siegfried's bark really is worse than his bite.
- This is Tricki's guest, Uncle Herriot.
- Like the books, it's heart-warming and funny.
- It's got that lovely balance of humor, drama.
- I think it's gonna appeal to everyone.
(gently sweeping orchestral music fades) (birds chirping) (cows mooing)
