The trials and misadventures of the staff of a country veterinary office in Yorkshire from the 1930s to the 1950s.

James Herriot is a vet in Yorkshire, England, during the late 1930s and 1940's. He gets a job at the practice of Siegfried Farnon, who (together with his mischievous brother Tristan) already have a successful business. James undergoes a variety of adventures during his work, which are just as often caused by the characters of the county (including the Farnon brothers) as the animals in his care.—Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

Based on the books collectively referred to by the same name, "All Creatures Great and Small" is much more than the life of a veterinarian.

James Herriot is a spanking new graduate from Veterinary School and he accepts employment in a rural area of Yorkshire, England, with the sometimes gruff, usually eccentric, always lovable Siegfried Farnon, a fellow bachelor serving the animal world of the region.

On the surface, the stories told through the series look much like they're merely about life in rural Englandwhile under the auspices of a simple country vet. Once one scratches the surface, though, it's easy to see the tales told have more to do with the people than the animals. What makes this even more remarkable is Herriot's stories being used in the context of the time in which they were written, post-WWII, when medicine took a major leap forward. With the introduction of penicillin, machinery replacing large animals and the burst of industry, veterinary work changed dramatically in a short period of time. In addition, animal ownership shifted from large to small animals, as more and more families moved from farms to cities in search of work.

Part of the comedy (and tragedy) of this series lies in this changing world causing problems with his work in the form of animal owners not quite prepared to accept the new-fangled ideas of this newly created veterinarian. Ready to explode with animal care never seen before, Herriot butts heads often with his client's owners, which helps to lend to the realistic air prevalent in this show. It's easy to believe this is not a show based on the semi-fictional stories told but based on the real-life antics of a real-life vet in the country.

Herriot chronicles all of this, first in book then in the form of this series, with his gentle humor, his great love of the human condition and with talent unsurpassed. The books were immediate best sellers when introduced in the 1970's, the series was extremely well received when it began and, for a little while each week, we were all able to escape to a life made much simpler for having this show to watch.