Samuel West's Funniest Season 6 Secrets
To mark All Creatures Great and Small’s Season 6, we bring you six fascinating and funny Season 6 secrets from Samuel West, ranging from Siegfried and Mrs. Hall’s potential future to real history, from the West Wing to Julius Caesar, and from costars to guest stars. And of course, sardines! Binge all seven episodes of All Creatures Great and Small Season 6 right now with PBS Passport.
On the Actor Playing Jimmy Herriot
Thomas Riches, he’s terrific. He’s a real star. Jimmy has always been Siegfried’s favorite person in the house – much the most intelligent – and I’ve always enjoyed my conversations with him. He’s delightful, and he particularly works well with Andy (Hay, director) in the later episodes. I think he really comes into his own then. The great difficulty is that in the past, with the babies being very small, every time we got used to one of them, we had to recast because [time] jumped forward. So let’s hope we get to stick with Thomas for a bit, because we like him very much!
Nicholas Ralph (James Herriot) and Thomas Riches (Jimmy) behind the scenes of Season 6
On the True Story of the Sardines
It’s a true story—the real Siegfried Farnon, Donald Sinclair, was very fond of sardines. And Jim, Alf Wight’s (James Herriot’s) son, told me that he once called up the office and the housekeeper said, “No, he can’t come to the phone now, he’s turning his sardines.” Because the sardines were in oil, and he didn’t want them to dry out, he would turn them once a week. I’ve known about this for a number of years, we’ve all known about it, but we’d never managed to get it into the story until now.
On Skeldale House's West Wing
If you’re lucky enough to have Anna Madeley playing Mrs. Hall, and you don’t use her wit and her dryness, her intelligence and her talent, then you’re wasting it, really. We always feel a little bit sad if we don’t get at least one scene during the series where she gets to chase me through the house. We call it our West Wing, because we put the steadicam on, and we just walk and talk. And we’re both quite fast actors, which really helps.
On Siegfried and Mrs. Hall's Future
Siegfried is very, very bad at admitting that he cares for people. He doesn't like being vulnerable and he's terrified of being abandoned, and that doesn't make him his most attractive with Mrs. Hall. He's quite needy and quite selfish and quite small and quite young sometimes. But he's on firmer ground when he brings himself to say how much he cares about her because they've always had a deep friendship and respect for each other. And whether that grows to something more is really down to whether we can trust that friendship and respect to be real. It feels to me that we can. But there are so many things in the way of it—Siegfried’s perfectionism about his previous marriage, wanting something as perfect as that, forgetting the little rubs and difficulties with Evelyn that everybody has. And I think it's really about admitting that good enough can also be sufficiently wonderful. And if he made that leap, then who knows what would happen.
On Gaia Wise
Gaia Wise is terrific. There was one scene where I was walking alongside her talking, and she looked so like her mum, Emma Thompson. I did two films with Emma in the early ‘90s, so that was really weird. It was like suddenly being 30-35 years younger, and…something she did, or some look she gave the ground—it just took me back. It was very odd indeed. She’s really terrific, and I hope we stick with her.
Gaia Wise as Charlotte Beauvoir in All Creatures Great and Small Season 6
On Killing his Costar...on Stage
The last time I worked with Jonathan Hyde [Captain Beauvoir], I stabbed him to death in the Capitol. He was Julius Caesar, and I was Brutus. He was very nice about it when we met on set this series!
Samuel West (Siegfried Farnon) with guest star Jonathan Hyde (Captain Beauvoir) and Gaia Wise (Charlotte Beauvoir).
