Callum Woodhouse & Gaia Wise, All Creatures Great and Small Season 6
Released February 23, 2026 25:28
WARNING: This episode contains spoilers for Episode 7 of All Creatures Great and Small Season 6.
With the war over, Darrowby’s residents are eager to indulge in the merriment of the holidays. For some, this will be the happiest Christmas yet. But for many others, it serves as a painful reminder of the loved ones who never made it back. In this episode, actors Callum Woodhouse and Gaia Wise reflect on how their characters, Tristan Farnon and Charlotte Beauvoir, simultaneously handle loss and celebration in this poignant Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small.
This script has been lightly edited for clarity.
Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.
There’s nothing quite like an All Creatures Great and Small Christmas episode. The Dales blanketed in snow, the Darrowby shops decked out with holiday decorations, Christmas music playing on the wireless, family and friends gathered round Skeldale House. And of course, a delicious feast.
CLIP
Siegfried: Mrs Hall. There’s a highly inventive recipe here for a murkey. Doesn’t look half bad.
Jimmy: What’s a murkey?
Mrs. Hall: It’s a mock turkey. It’s stuffing – which I know you like - wrapped in bacon – and then we all pretend it’s a roast.
Tristan: Are those parsnips for legs?
Siegfried: National shortage of the real bird, you see.
Mrs. Hall: I’ve still got a couple of leads. I’ve not given up on finding one yet.
Siegfried: I think we must face facts, anything with wings is long since sold.
Jimmy: I have wings!
Siegfried: And I can’t wait to see them in action, Jimmy.
With the war over, Darrowby’s residents are eager to indulge in the merriment of the holidays. For some, this will be the happiest Christmas yet, but for many others, including Maggie at The Drovers, it serves only as a painful reminder of the loved ones who never made it back.
CLIP
Maggie: Which is why we’re gonna have the biggest tree with the brightest lights and no-one telling us to cover the windows up.
Tristan: Hmm. Quite so.
Maggie: When are you dropping the tree off, by the way?
Tristan: Sorry?
Maggie: You said you’d pick one up for me, didn’t you? With me being run ragged between here and little Albert. You’ve not forgotten? I want a decent one!
Tristan: Maggie. I’m not one of your drunken farmers. How could I possibly have forgotten?
Christmas trees and pints won’t be the only thing at The Drovers this year. The widespread turkey shortage has led to a highly competitive game of darts at the pub, with the grand prize of a Christmas turkey. Mrs. Hall has been brushing up on her skills to bring home a feast for Skeldale. And it pays off.
CLIP
Maggie: Team Skeldale are the winners! Congratulations, you get the winning prize!
(Turkey gobbles)
Jimmy: Is he ours? Really? I’m gonna call him Rudolph!
James: No, don’t - don’t give him a name.
Jimmy: Hi Rudolph. I’ll look after you from now on.
Tristan: Maggie, it’s still breathing.
Maggie: Best way of keeping it fresh.
Today, we’re joined by actors Callum Woodhouse and Gaia Wise to reflect on how their characters, Tristan Farnon and Charlotte Beauvoir, simultaneously handle loss and celebration in this poignant Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small.
Jace Lacob: And this week, we are joined by All Creatures Great and Small star Callum Woodhouse. Welcome.
Callum Woodhouse: Thank you very much for having me. Pleasure to be here.
Jace Lacob: I love the scene between Tristan and Charlotte when they arrive at the Christmas tree farm and the gate is locked. They’re struggling over this. Tristan is ready to admit defeat, and Charlotte clambers over the gate. And this moment of revelry does turn really serious.
CLIP
Tristan: I don’t even know why I got involved. I don’t want to go to the bloody pub tonight!
Charlotte: I knew something was wrong.
Tristan: What? I’m fine.
Charlotte: Of course you are, it’s Christmas. Everyone’s happy at Christmas except all of those who aren’t. I haven’t had a happy Christmas since the year we celebrated in November.
Tristan: Why November?
Charlotte: We didn’t think Mother would see December.
Tristan: Oh, Charlotte…
Charlotte: I’m very good at not showing it. I don’t suppose I’m the only one. What is it?
Tristan: This is supposed to be ‘The happiest Christmas ever’. So, we’re meant to just forget that Arthur never came home from the Japanese prisoner of war camp? Or the men we lost? I’m meant to just forget the things I saw?
Charlotte: We won’t go tonight, not if you don’t want to.
Tristan: It’s not just about tonight.
Charlotte: I know. I know so well. But it’ll be over in a few days and then we don’t have to think about it for another year.
Tristan: But these are things I think about all the time. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to stop.
Jace Lacob: It seems like these two very disparate personalities and classes, for these two people, they are becoming more and more and more similar. They are finding these commonalities. How does this revelation bond them further?
Callum Woodhouse: It's her telling him about her trauma and about her struggles. And I think Tristan needed to hear it, you know? To be quite bluntly honest, it's not all about him. Let's be honest. Tristan's gone through a very tough time. And Charlotte's been absolutely beautiful in that. But she's gone through her own stuff and is continuing to go through her own stuff. And Tristan, without maybe knowing, is helping her through those times. Where she says, “These last few months have been a great relief.” She's talking exactly about these hard moments of missing her mother and all of this. I just think they hold each other up very well. I think they hold each other up very well, and I hope they continue to hold each other up very well. And I think it's a really beautiful scene in the Christmas tree farm, which I mean, as you know, you've seen it, it ends with him finally dropping the “L” bomb.
Jace Lacob: He does. The fact that Charlotte reminds us of the true meaning of the evergreen Christmas tree. It's a reminder that even the longest, hardest winter will end and spring will come. And Tristan sees the snowdrop flower, the sign of spring, and he sees Charlotte dragging the tree over the gate herself. So what is it about that moment do you feel that does propel him to declare his love for Charlotte, to drop that “L” bomb?
Callum Woodhouse: I've got to say very quickly as well, filming that scene was amazing. Gaia really, really did haul a Christmas tree over a fence on her own. There was no stunt doubles. There was no strong man at the bottom of a fence, slightly lifting it up for her to help her out of shot. She lifted a Christmas tree over a fence on her own. And I just watched her do that, and then very, very organically felt like I wanted to tell her I loved her because it was amazing to watch! It was really, really wonderful. What an actress she is. You could say, hey, she's great at playing this, she's great at doing… Can you lift a Christmas tree over a fence? Are you that type of actress? Because she is. She's amazing.
Jace Lacob: Yeah, I think similarly for Tristan and Charlotte, seeing her lift this Christmas tree by herself over the fence is what makes him admit he loves her.
Callum Woodhouse: It is. It really is. I think if he told her he loved her in a really tender moment where they've had a heart to heart and he said, I love you, yeah, it'd be very obvious to say, I love you here. But he tells her he loves her when she's just single handedly lifted a tree over a fence, and she's a little bit flustered and a little bit out of breath from carrying this Christmas tree. And he just takes a look and he's like, I love you. And it's really lovely. It's really sweet. And I think it's very true to life.
I think with people's real life partners, you get a real sense of wanting to tell them you love them when they do something that's quite superhuman in a way, rather than the typical moment, they've cooked you your dinner or something like that. That's really sweet, but then you see them do this kind of superhuman feat and they're just cracking on and doing it very sort of brazenly. And he's just like, oh, I love you. It's amazing. It's so sweet, I love it.
Jace Lacob: Maggie gets choked up making her Christmas toast, and Tristan steps in and takes over.
CLIP
Maggie: You’ve probably noticed this fine tree here. As we know, because of the blackout, many of us haven’t bothered with Christmas lights for a while. But all of that - that’s all over.
Tristan: And it’s come at a price. I’m sure you’ll join me in raising your glasses to those we lost. Let’s hope that their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Let’s hope that it means that the world doesn't go down this dark road again. And let’s hope the year ahead brings us all the things we truly need, good tidings, comfort, and joy.
Crowd: Hear hear.
Jace Lacob: What does this moment mean for him and the fact that he's finally able to stand up here and say these things and not be a man apart from everyone else?
Callum Woodhouse: Yeah, I haven't seen this scene yet. I remember filming it, but I actually haven't watched that scene back yet, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I remember on the day, Mollie, who plays Maggie, her speech, where she ultimately can't carry on, is so beautifully acted. Mollie is just phenomenal in that scene. I think she absolutely smashes it out of the park. I think she's wonderful. And it's another one of those moments which happens a lot for me with this show where you just don't feel like you need to give it too much acting. I remember watching her do her piece of her monologue, and I just sort of took the energy that she was giving. And I really did try and speak, I don't know how to describe it, it's like I know how emotional you are, so I'll take over.
Jace Lacob: I'll lift up the tree.
Callum Woodhouse: Yeah, I'll lift up the tree and all of this. And I remember being quite emotional, saying the lines, but actually trying my hardest not to be. But after having just watched what she had done, I couldn't help but have a slight quiver in my voice type of thing. And I was just thinking about the performance she'd just given. I didn't have a single thing in my head about, oh, you've got to be slightly emotional on this word or on this sentence, maybe do a little bit of an emotional sort of lump in the throat or whatever. I wasn't thinking about any of that. I was just reading the monologue, thinking about what I had just seen Mollie do, and it informed my little speech tremendously.
I feel like this show has a lot of actors helping out actors. One of my favorite acting quotes ever, I think it is my favorite acting quote of all time is from Ian McKellen. And he says, “In acting, you are only ever as good as the person that you are acting opposite against.” And I think what he means by that is if you have got a really, really wonderful scene partner who is acting their heart out and is and is doing tremendous work, that you're going to be just as good because you're acting opposite this wonderful performance. And with that thought in mind, I think I'm really, really good in this show because I get to act opposite Sam West and I get to act opposite Gaia Wise and Mollie Winnard, who just acted their hearts out and I just need to step in and pick up the baton.
Jace Lacob: It's an embarrassment of riches, really. The acting talent on this show.
Callum Woodhouse: It really is. It really, really is.
Jace Lacob: An early Christmas present arrived for All Creatures fans with the news that Series Seven and Series Eight are on tap. Where do you hope Tristan's story goes in Series Seven?
Callum Woodhouse: Well, I hope there's a lot more stories with Charlotte to be told. I don't think their storyline is anywhere near done. I think I've got really, really great chemistry with Gaia. We get on really, really well off screen. And I think on screen, I think we've got a great chemistry as a couple. We've seen Tristan have a lot of romantic entanglements throughout the course of the show, and none of them ever last for longer than a couple of episodes or a season. I think his longest one was Florence Pandhi, the daughter of the rival vet, George Pandhi. And that was four episodes, and then they broke up towards the end of the series.
I'm not saying it ever felt wrong. It obviously felt right. But I think that was from a time when Tristan was a little less mature, and it was certainly before the war. And he's now gone through the war. He's gone through experiences. And if you think about him at the start of Series One and he was very much a boy and he is now, I would say, very much a man. He is grown up and he's a captain for one thing. He's got the same military ranking as Siegfried and he is a man in and of himself. And I think that should speak to his relationships. I think he needs to have a relationship which lasts longer than a season. He needs to have a girlfriend who comes back the next season. It's not, she's in it for four episodes, and then she's gone. He's a mature person now. He's not flitting from girl to girl. He's after a more stronger, stable connection.
And in other areas, if there's ever a scene with Tristan and Siegfried, I'm here for it. I just want it to be endless, endless scenes of Tristan and Siegfried having a heart to heart and then bickering over what they're having for lunch, type of thing. I just live for those scenes. I'm basically Sam West's biggest fan, is what I'm trying to say.
Jace Lacob: Well, I can't wait for more All Creatures. Callum Woodhouse, thank you so very much.
Callum Woodhouse: Thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time for this. Thank you.
Jace Lacob: We’ll take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors and when we return, we’ll hear from All Creatures Great and Small star Gaia Wise.
MIDROLL
Jace Lacob: And this week we are joined once again by All Creatures Great and Small star, Gaia Wise. Welcome.
Gaia Wise: I thought you'd be bored of me by now!
Jace Lacob: Never, never! So, I want to talk about Episode Seven…
Gaia Wise: Yes.
Jace Lacob: …which I absolutely love. It is Christmas time in the Dales. The war is over. Charlotte and Tristan attempt to get a Christmas tree. And Tristan believes that Christmas is just something you have to get through. And Charlotte says, “It's Christmas. Everyone's happy at Christmas except all of those who aren't. I haven't had a happy Christmas since the year we celebrated in November.” How did these joint revelations further bond these two, the information that Charlotte lost her mother and what Tristan is going through. How does that even further push them together?
Gaia Wise: It was one of my favorite episodes. It's also very funny because you film the Christmas episode in June. And Andy, our wonderful director of that block who I adored, he always wore a hat and it was very funny. But Andy looked at Tris and we filmed it in a Christmas tree forest, thankfully it wasn't as hot in Harrogate as London because the week we filmed it was 30°C in London. And Andy said, well, wouldn't it be nice if Tris put his coat on Gaia and made her warm? And I already looked like a tomato, basically. And I looked at him and I went, for the love of God, Andy, don't give me any more layers. And so then what I did in the first, just a little behind the scenes thing, in the first take, I took my coat off in my hands. And then for continuity, I then have to have my coat off in every other shot.
But it's one of my favorite episodes because I think that this series is very much about Tristan and his experience. And I think Callum deserves that as an actor. He's done it for years. And at the end of Episode Six, there's a coming together, I suppose, with the Skeldale lot and with Tris. And he's bared his soul to Siegfried in a way that has never happened before. And with Charlotte, I think Tris and Charlotte both understand what it is to be hardy and hold things back. I'd really like Charlotte to have a moment like that of her own, where she can confide in Tristan in that way, which she has in the Christmas episode, talking about her mum.
And we had a lot of different scripts, and it took a while to actually work out that particular scene. We got like, eight different versions of it. And the one that we settled on I really loved because it's simple. It's quite poetic. There's no emotional breakdown. It's two people looking at one another and going, I know it's hard, but there's beauty in sadness. And I think Charlotte has weathered her emotions, especially with her mother, or these big emotions earlier than Tris has. Because he's only just experiencing them with not just PTSD, but then feelings of inadequacy at home and all these things.
And I do think that Charlotte offers an anchor into health and anchor into, you're going to get through this because I have. I understand loss is always different. It's always incredibly personal. But, if you have someone who loves you, who you can look at and go, okay, in the future, I might be able to feel that way. And I think it's also the first time in the series that you see Charlotte being emotional not talking about Philbrick, not talking about her horse. I tried to play it quite strained. It doesn't feel like that's something that she gives up on a weekly, daily, monthly, yearly basis even. But she does with Tris because she knows that he needs it and she needs to tell him in order for their relationship to grow closer.
Jace Lacob: She gets, to me, the line of the episode and reminds us about the true meaning of the Christmas tree.
CLIP
Charlotte: You know why we have Christmas trees, don’t you?
Tristan: Er, something to do with Prince Albert?
Charlotte: Yes, but before him. Long before. When the druids were walking the hills round here.
Tristan: I’m a bit behind on my druid history to be honest.
Charlotte: It’s because the pine and the fir are evergreen.
Tristan: So?
Charlotte: A reminder that even the longest, hardest winter will end. And spring will come.
Jace Lacob: What is embedded in this message of perseverance? And is this something, as you say, that Charlotte has fought to realize for herself, painfully?
Gaia Wise: Painfully absolutely. And I think, as I said, she's learnt it painfully. And so she had more of a home base emotional experience, if that makes sense. Tristan's had deep trauma on the battlefield, as has Charlotte, but she's also had the hardest trauma I think any child can have, which is losing their parent, let alone their mother as a daughter. What I at least wanted to give her, for her and Tristan, was this understanding that they will never understand one another's trauma, but they both completely empathize with what the other person is going through, what their loved one is. And it's a young relationship, but it feels like it's based and built in similar dangers and emotional environments.
Jace Lacob: I love that. I also love the fact that Charlotte lifts the Christmas tree over the gate herself.
Gaia Wise: Right.
Jace Lacob: And Callum told me that you actually did that in reality.
Gaia Wise: Are you flipping ready for this?!
Jace Lacob: Tell me, tell me about this moment.
Gaia Wise: I train every day. Fitness is a big thing for me. But also when I'm filming, I wake up about an hour and a half before my call time to do Pilates, yoga, whatever, because I need to have those endorphins to sit in a chair. And my hair, I wake up in the morning looking like Annabelle. I've got the straightest, like, I look like a dead doll, basically. I've got very, very thick, very, very straight hair. I had the most wonderful hair and makeup artists. But I would be in the chair for an hour and 10 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes in the morning for makeup and hair. And they had to curl my hair into tight, tight curls. And so I needed the endorphins for that.
And then I made the mistake of telling Andy, our director of that block, the hat wearing Andy, that I was pretty fit and I could lift something. And I'm pretty sure the Christmas tree was about, it was probably 35 kilos, 40 kilos. I'm trying to think about this, probably yeah, 35, 40 kilos. And I had to lift it over a fence. And my favorite thing was the first time we did it, and we had the most wonderful props, guys, two of them had to lift it to put it back into place. And I did that by myself.
And I had to leap the fence. And then the point is that Tris is looking at a bloody flower or he's being, I'm like, you could have helped. And then he looked at me and I've lifted the tree over, and we have a moment where we confess our love to one another. But Callum watched me do it and he went, I think I'm in love with you. And I was like, great for the characters!
Jace Lacob: I mean, my question for you in this moment is, how does that single action sum up Charlotte Beauvoir and how does it capture you, Gaia Wise? What does it say about you, that you did it?
Gaia Wise: She is vivacious and strong, knows what she wants, will not let anything stand in her way, loves unconditionally, but will not let love destroy her or ruin her spirit. I think I've got a lot to learn from Charlotte. I'm strong. I've gone through many battles. I've done a lot of work on myself. I think I probably love and fall into loving people more than Charlotte does. So maybe she could teach me a thing or two about boundaries. Charlotte and I both adore our fathers. My dad, he's one of my favorite people. We love our animals. Why am I getting emotional? It's been the greatest honor of my very early, very, very young career to play this part. I didn't have to necessarily go deep for it, but I feel very attached to her, and I feel we've become deep together, me and her. And there are things I could and should learn. And I just hope that I get to stick around.
Jace Lacob: I certainly hope so. Gaia Wise, thank you so very much.
Gaia Wise: Thank you for having me.
Next time, we dive into the world of The Forsytes, a wealthy stockbroking family whose generations find themselves torn between tradition and self-sacrifice, and personal happiness and the pursuit of love.
CLIP
Frances: We all deserve our moments of madness. And then we grow up.
Jolyon: And then we grow up.
Don't miss the U.S. premiere of this highly-anticipated drama, The Forsytes, on Sunday, March 22, on MASTERPIECE on PBS. But first, come back next week for a special episode as Tom Durant-Pritchard offers a preview of what to expect from The Forsytes.
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