Tristan's New Love: Callum Woodhouse on Charlotte and Season 6
In All Creatures Great and Small Season 6, Tristan’s postwar journey takes him to dark places, but he finds light and romance in new love interest Charlotte. In January 2026, MASTERPIECE spoke with actor Callum Woodhouse about how Tristan’s growth has allowed for a new kind of relationship, what makes him happy, and some boyfriend basics. Plus, he teases the possibility of more facial hair. Find out!
Callum Woodhouse as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small Season 6
MASTERPIECE:
Not a question, but a statement: I miss the mustache.
Callum Woodhouse:
I'm so glad you asked about it—I sort of miss it as well, ever so slightly. My girlfriend does not miss it at all. She found out I wasn't going to have it again and cheered. She literally celebrated on the spot, to which I was like, "That's pretty rude. You could have done that in another room away from me, but fine."
The mustache was funny—it felt quite cool to have a sort of wildly different look for a series of television—I've never done that before…But then it was like, "We want you to have a mustache and you have to have it for the whole time you're filming." So for the first couple of months of filming, I'd get up in the morning and go for a shower, and would've forgotten overnight that I had a mustache, and then I’d look in the mirror and was like, "Oh! Oh yeah, I've got a mustache now. That's right."
I'm now in the process of trying to pluck up the courage to ask to have a beard for next series, because I think Tristan’s getting more and more confident and more outspoken with his love for Siegfried. And he's a captain now, like Siegfried is—they've got the same military rank. So I think it would be a really great way of Tristan showing how much he loves his brother without actually having to say it.
MASTERPIECE:
That is so sweet. And speaking of love, we are loving Tristan’s relationship with Charlotte. Can you share what it’s been like to film it?
Callum Woodhouse:
I really love it too. It's been one of my favorite relationships I've ever got to play on screen. I think Gaia [Wise], who plays Charlotte, is one of the most wonderful actresses I've gotten to work with. She was a joy to play all those scenes with, she's just spectacular. And I think our chemistry is wonderful, so I really lucked out in finding someone that I get along with.
And it couldn't have come at a better time for Tristan. I think he's past flitting from woman to woman. He never really had a love interest that lasted longer than a season or a couple of episodes. In Seasons 1 and 2, he was very much still a boy, I think it would be fair to say. He was still very caddish, very immature, and it was totally the right call for him to be flitting from girl to girl. But he's matured now. He's a captain—the same rank as Siegfried—and after what he’s gone through in Season 6, he's seen and experienced some things that changed him unalterably and thrust him into manhood in a way that he'll never really be able to return. So I think he's long past that type of behavior, and I think he needs and deserves a more stable partner. And I also think the audience that we've built up over the years wants to see Tristan happy, and Charlotte really makes him happy.
Tristan had some beautiful lines of dialogue in Episode 6, speaking about the war and what happened to him, but I actually think my favorite line of dialogue from this season came from Charlotte, when they are having their little heart-to-heart at the fete in the Darrowby Green. He kind of heartbreakingly tells her, "I'm not sure if I'll ever be the same chap that I once was." And Charlotte's line back to him is, "That's fine. I like you the way you are now." And it makes me quite emotional, thinking about it, because she is happy with him how he is, and that's so, so beautiful. She's not trying to cure him. She's not trying to change him back. She's just trying to make this version of him happy. And I think they do that for each other. I love it.
MASTERPIECE:
What kind of a boyfriend is Tristan?
Callum Woodhouse:
Do you know what? I think he's a lot like myself in that I think he's a feeder. There's lots of scenes of him and Charlotte having picnics and him offering her jam tarts and cucumber sandwiches and so on. And that's what I'm like with my girlfriend. I'm the cook. I do all the cooking, and I do slightly bigger portions than I probably should do because I'm Northern. I like to see my girlfriend have a good meal, it makes me very happy. And I think that's what Tristan's like.
And I think the real turning point for them—and this again is very similar to me as well—is when he gets Charlotte over to Skeldale house and he introduces her to his world. She's from this incredibly high class sort of life. You've seen her house—it's this absolute stunning manor. And then he invites her to Skeldale house and compared to where she lives, it's kind of like this sort of little... I mean, it's a beautiful house, Skeldale, but compared to where she's from, it's like this little hovel, but she absolutely loves it and she flourishes in it.
MASTERPIECE:
If you had any relationship advice for Tristan, what would it be?
Callum Woodhouse:
I think it would be to essentially just trust, not necessarily in himself, but trust in Charlotte…He spent this last season covering up the unspeakable trauma that he'd been through and trying to play the part of Tristan, in a way. And I think with Charlotte, he doesn't need to do that. She told him, " I like you the way that you are now." And he could doubt it, think she doesn’t really care as much as she says, or that it’s only temporary, while she’s sorting herself out. But he just needs to be unashamedly himself and know that she's not going anywhere. So I think my relationship advice would just be to trust whatever you get told. If someone says they love you for who you are, then they mean that. They're not saying it because they want you to change or grow or whatever. They really do love you for who you are.
MASTERPIECE:
In closing, we have a short lightning round especially for you. So: Cricket or darts?
Callum Woodhouse:
Cricket.
MASTERPIECE:
Uniform or knitwear?
Callum Woodhouse:
Knitwear. Knitwear. Knitwear. I do not love the uniforms. They're too hot and they're itchy.
MASTERPIECE:
Pub or Mrs. Hall's cooking?
Callum Woodhouse:
Oh! I can't decide, that's impossible. I can't answer that…Both. I have to say both. I need both. I want Mrs. Hall's cooking while I'm at the pub. That's what I want. Don't we all?
MASTERPIECE:
And last, horses or dogs?
Callum Woodhouse:
Dogs. Although I really love horses and my love for horses has grown exponentially over making this show, and I'm so much more comfortable around horses than I ever was before making this. But I don't know if I could love anything on this earth more than I love dogs. I mean, I love dogs more than I love people. And my dog is currently curled up next to me on the sofa, and I love him so much.
