All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special trailer 2022 first look

War, separation and family ties are key themes portrayed in the short video that previews the festive episode, which will bring to a close series three of the popular adaptation, launched in 2020, of James Herriot’s best-selling veterinary novels. The Christmas episode itself will air on Friday, December 23, at 9pm.

The teaser features Tristan Farnon (Callum Woodhouse) proposing a toast at the Christmas dinner table, flanked by James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph), Helen (Rachel Shenton), Siegfried (Samuel West), Mrs Hall (Anna Madeley), Jenny Alderson (Imogen Clawson) and Richard Alderson (Tony Pitts – see if you can catch a glimpse of a very special role for him), and a new young refugee guest.

Filmed in Yorkshire during July’s summer heatwave, the Christmas special is set in Christmas 1939, with the world at war and the folk of Darrowby coming to terms with new regulations, conditions and separations. The trailer also gives a glimpse of Patricia Hodge as Mrs Pumphrey, with Tricki Woo looking on with mild interest and a signature blank stare, and of Gerald, Mrs Hall’s special gentleman friend, leading to the suggestion that perhaps their relationship might be rekindled, although Anna Madeley has also hinted that her friendship with Siegfried is also deepening and growing closer.

Nicholas Ralph, who plays James Herriot, said in an interview with The Yorkshire Post that he hoped this year’s Christmas episode would “bring the same uplifting, hopeful, warm, funny, but also touching drama” as the previous two yuletide outings.

Lead writer Ben Vanstone and director Stewart Svaasand return for this year’s Christmas episode, produced by BAFTA-winning production company Playground (Howards End, Wolf Hall). Executive producer Melissa Gallant said: “We are delighted to be offering the audience one more trip back to the sanctuary of Darrowby before the year is out. An All Creatures Christmas special always aims to deliver uplifting celebration alongside the often painful reality of Christmas for many, and this year's episode is no exception.

“This is our first Christmas during wartime and we wanted to reflect something of the reality of war for our Skeldale family. Ben Vanstone cooks up his signature Christmas feast full of fun, festivity, community, romance, Father Christmas, tears, and of course a resurgence of Mrs Hall's excellent sausage rolls. We have all laughed and cried - a lot - making it and hope it will bring a little necessary joy and catharsis to the end of a challenging year for many.”

Never out of print, the James Herriot books have become a global cultural phenomenon with devoted fans around the world. They were written by Thirsk vet James Alfred Wight, who graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College and headed to the North Yorkshire town in 1940 where he fell in love with the Dales and the woman he would marry, Joan Danbury. With her encouragement, he later wrote based on his own adventures under the famous Herriot pen name.

It has already been confirmed that there will be a fourth series.

The All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special is on Channel 5 on Friday, December 23, at 9pm, and after that it can be watched on My5.