The Women of All Creatures Great and Small

(gentle music) - Mrs.

Hall is, well, she's the housekeeper at Skeldale House.

I didn't remember this series properly from having watched it, but she doesn't appear very heavily in either that adaptation, or in the books.

So I thought, "This is interesting.

So it's 2019 and we're writing a new adaptation of it."

I had an opportunity to create a character that we've never met before.

- One thing that was incredibly important to us was that, as a female character, she was very fully explored with her own backstory.

- Reporting for duty, Ma'am!

- (laughs) Give over.

- [Melissa] And with her own story that runs through the series.

- She's a very wonderful, warm, very loving woman who can say it how it is, when she needs to, particularly with Siegfried.

- Mrs.

Hall, I believe there should be a line between employer and employee.

- When it suits.

It's a totally new idea, in a way.

She's got a different position in the household in the way this adaptation works, so I was quite excited by that.

And also, just 'cause she's so much fun.

(broom knocking) (body thuds) - I describe Helen as a modern woman in 1937.

She's a working woman, she spins a lot of plates, she's a real coper.

She is royally unfazed by anybody, regardless of you know, gender, status, all those kinds of things.

Morning, James!

(water splashing) (Helen chuckling) She greets everybody exactly the same.

She gives as good as she gets, in fact, better than James in some scenes.

Hold this one for me.

Come 'ere, you.

(cow mooing) - That very intentional way that that character's been written is, when we first meet her, that she is dealing with a very large bull that James is so frightened of he's up on top of a wall.

- Need a hand down?

And what makes Helen the character for a modern audience?

Her strength.

She's had a lot to deal with.

Mum passed away, she looks after her dad, she looks after the farm, she looks after her younger sister, Jenny.

- You don't trust me to do anything!

- Helen stepped into that role of mother which is not an easy thing to do.

I think Mrs.

Hall has a huge amount of respect for that.

And also has an eye on her, a sort of caring eye.

I've been there.

- Your Edward was the same?

- He was.

They're part of this close-knit community.

They know each other's lives pretty well and they're a great support to one another.

- I swear she's like a sheepdog but with half the sense.

- My mother used to despair at my mucking about with animals.

- She's my sister.

Yeah, she's royally unfazed and it's really nice to play, but it's also a really lovely quality about her and I like that.

(gentle uplifting music) (birds chirping)