All Creatures Great and Small: As fans await season 5, an official new book celebrates its Yorkshire locations and actors Nicholas Ralph, Rachel Shenton, Samuel West, Anna Madeley and Callum Woodhouse

Publisher Michael O’Mara says that Celebrating All Creatures Great & Small: For the Love of the Yorkshire Dales will be “a richly detailed celebration of the award-winning show, with beautiful photography throughout”. Like the remake of the show, the book has the blessing of the Herriot estate, and James Herriot’s daughter, Rosie Page, has contributed a foreword.

Featuring spectacular shots from the first four series, plus an in-depth look at the characters and real-life inspiration for the show, the publishers add that the book is “an unmissable and sumptuous guide to the beloved setting of Skeldale House, the inhabitants and animals of Darrowby and the Yorkshire Dales”.

Airing on Channel 5 in the UK and PBS Masterpiece in the US, All Creatures Great and Small is a ratings sensation averaging 3.8 million viewers. Series five completed filming in the Yorkshire Dales at the end of June and will return this autumn for another six episodes, plus a Christmas special.

Editorial director at Michael O’Mara Books, Nicki Crossley, who acquired the World All Language Rights from All3Media, says: “Celebrating All Creatures Great & Small is a toast to the extraordinary heritage behind the show, its iconic setting, as well as to the cast and crew who have all made the programme such essential viewing.

“Packed with stunning photographs and bringing together the incredible history of the local landscape alongside exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes stories, this is a love letter to James Herriot and his beloved Dales.”

All Creatures Great and Small, a Playground production for Channel 5, in association with All3Media, Masterpiece and Screen Yorkshire, is set to return this autumn, bringing back its cast featuring Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Nicholas Ralph, Callum Woodhouse and Rachel Shenton. James Anthony-Rose reappears as young vet Richard Carmody. Also confirmed is Patricia Hodge as the wonderful Mrs Pumphrey, alongside her pampered Pekingese Tricki.

Based on Thirsk Vet James Herriot’s best-selling novels, the Channel 5 series has been nominated for Best Drama Series by the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. There was triple joy for All Creatures Great and Small fans in February when Channel 5 announced the double commission of series five and series six - and the return of much-loved actor Callum Woodhouse who will reprise his role as Tristan Farnon.

Season four ended in the UK with the Channel 5 Christmas 2023 episode, set at Christmas 1940, with James making it home from his RAF training to Darrowby the morning after Helen had given birth to their son, little James (or Jim).

The previous BBC adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small ran for over 12 years, and James Herriot remains a national treasure - his books have not been out of print since they were published over 50 years ago

Celebrating All Creatures Great & Small will be published in hardback on September 26, 2024, priced £25.