All Creatures Great and Small Season 5: New and Returning Cast and Characters
The warm and welcoming All Creatures Great and Small is back for a fifth season, treating audiences to a happy mix of fresh new faces and familiar favorites. Skeldale House has a growing baby onboard, several new characters bring whiffs of romance and poignant humor, and then there’s just the sheer delight of seeing Tristan Farnon (Callum Woodhouse) and his wide grin back in Darrowby.
Get a peek at new and returning cast and their roles in All Creatures Great and Small Season 5 and savor this irresistible series’ return. Watch Seasons 1 to 5 any time with PBS Passport.
- 1.
Callum Woodhouse Returns as Tristan Farnon
The Character: Tristan is Siegfried’s younger, more carefree brother; he’s been serving overseas with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and has an unexpected return mid-season. Tristan “makes jokes when he probably shouldn’t make jokes,” says Woodhouse, “but inevitably, because of his cheeky grin and his attitude, he always gets away with [it]. It’s really nice to play someone like that.”
Where You’ve Seen Him: MASTERPIECE viewers may have first fallen for Callum Woodhouse when he played Leslie Durrell—another family misfit in a different chaotic household—in The Durrells in Corfu. While away from the set of All Creatures Great and Small during Season 4, Woodhouse performed in the not-yet-released allegorical thriller film, One of Us.
What Castmates Say: “I love having Callum back because we have the same obsession for animals,” says Rachel Shenton (Helen Herriot). “We communicate by sending dog videos to each other!” And Nicholas Ralph (James Herriot) adds, “Callum is just a great laugh—a great guy to have around both on and off set. … It’s always a treat to work with [him]. Any scenes we have together were brilliant and a lot of fun.”
- 2.
Jeremy Swift is Mr. Bosworth
The Character: Mr. Bosworth is Darrowby’s Air Raid Precaution Warden, who lives alone with his dog. Bosworth is a comical figure with an inflated sense of self-worth. He’s “an interesting fish,” says Anna Madeley (Mrs. Hall). “Quite pedantic but also a lot of fun.” Introduce this Bosworth fellow to the unpredictable Siegfried Farnon and you get the pleasure of watching two egos collide.
Where You’ve Seen Him: Swift played the sharp-tongued butler ‘Spratt’ to Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey to great comic effect, and he’s appeared in other MASTERPIECE series including The Durrells in Corfu and Foyle’s War. The seasoned actor famously played the character of Higgins in Ted Lasso, earning him a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
What Castmates Say: “We’ve got some really good guest stars this year. We’ve got the amazing Jeremy Swift, who you will recognize from countless hilarious performances,” says Samuel West (Siegfried Farnon). This season, “Mrs. Hall has a new role overseen by [this] appalling Bosworth, who is Siegfried’s nemesis. He couldn’t have been designed to be more annoying.”
- 3.
Juliet Aubrey is Miss Grantley
The Character: We meet the impressive Miss Grantley when Carmody and Siegfried treat her pygmy goat herd. She’s an archaeologist who’s lived in Persia and is temporarily overseeing her brother’s sprawling estate. She’s writing a book, tending the gardens, and speaks to the animals in Farsi!
Where You’ve Seen Her: MASTERPIECE Mystery! fans might recognize Juliet Aubrey from her role as Sister Joan Pauwels in Van der Valk Season 1. She won the Best Actress Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for playing Dorothea in the serial Middlemarch (1994). Aubrey currently portrays DCI Christina Brand on the PBS show Professor T.
Fun Fact: Aubrey is the cousin of U2’s guitarist, David Howell Evans, also known as The Edge. “We used to play as kids,” she tells the Western Mail (UK), “and we [now] share a common interest in environmental issues.”
- 4.
Caroline Menton is Doris
The Character: Doris is a volunteer with the Women’s Land Army. She’s traded in a department store job in Leeds to help fill the agricultural labor gap caused by farmers joining the military. Doris is a self-assured young woman who doesn’t mind hard work, and she’s quite a sight in her farmer’s overalls and bright red lipstick! The newcomer is Jenny Alderson’s new bestie and fills Jenny in on life outside the Dales. Is she a bad influence?
Up-and-Coming Actor: Menton is a young Irish actress who’s appeared on British stage and screen. She recently landed a role in the upcoming thriller movie, Oddity.
- 5.
Two Babies Play Jimmy Herriot
The Character: Jimmy is Helen and James Herriot’s four-month old son. He’s all about looking cherubic and being amused by doting adults. “Jimmy is obviously the most intelligent and wise member of the Skeldale household, and unfortunately, [Siegfried is] the only person who sees this,” says Samuel West. “They treat him as a baby, which is patronizing, but we have some quite deep conversations.”
Up-and-Coming Actors: The actual babies sharing the role of Jimmy Herriot are newcomers Winter Gilliam and Remy Gardner-France. But with names like those, these developing actors are bound to go places.
What Castmates Say: “They were absolutely brilliant,” says Nicholas Ralph (James Herriot). “Like any other actor, they took a minute to get used to everything; after all, they were just three months old. But after a few days, they settled in, and it was amazing to see them smile when they started to recognize you. They were great to work with—just adorable and so smiley once they got comfortable.”
