All Creatures Great and Small Series 4 filming begins as Samuel West celebrates with a witty ditty

Taking to Twitter, the actor, who plays mercurial vet Siegfried Farnon, wrote: “I hope these rhymes are not a bore; Today we started Season Four. (To second-guess your naming queries We’re also starting Four: The Series).

He completed his rhyme with a Union Flag emoji, a nod, perhaps, to the dim view that some British fans of the Channel 5 series take to the US-preferred use of the word “season” when referring to recurring TV dramas and shows.

West added to his Tweet a picture of the clapperboards used on the first day of filming of each of the four series, with the comment: “Four Year, four boards. Thank you for making it possible #ACGAS”.

Meanwhile, both Rachel Shenton, who plays Helen Herriot, and Anna Madeley (Mrs Hall) had posted, also on Twitter, photos of themselves enjoying tea and scones at Bettys Harlow Carr. Rachel also posted a photo of the first board, which notes that Andy Hay is the director of the first scene, which, judging by the background of the photo, is at the purpose-built interiors set at Summerbridge, North Yorkshire, where the inside of the vets’ practice and home, Skeldale House, is filmed. The exterior is famously filmed at Grassington, which is used for Darrowby, although Arncliffe is used for the back of Skeldale House where the cars (and escaping chickens) are kept. More locations here.

Masterpiece PBS, which hosts the series in the US, also posted a picture of the board yesterday evening, this time on Facebook, with the comment: “In case you missed it: Season 4 of All Creatures Great and Small is officially underway and started production today!”.

Series three ended with the Christmas episode which saw young vet Tristan Farnon (Callum Woodhouse) enlisting to fight in World War II and leaving aboard a train, having hugged goodbye at the station with concerned elder brother Siegfried. Helen and James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) married at the start of series three, and so baby news is expected for series four, although a cloud hangs over the couple with the possibilty of James leaving for war.

All Creatures Great and Small is produced by BAFTA-winning production company Playground (Howards End, Wolf Hall). This Channel 5 reboot has been adapted from James Herriot’s cherished collection of stories. James Alfred Wight OBE FRCVS was a veterinary surgeon who graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College at the age of 23 and headed to a veterinary practice in Thirsk, Yorkshire, in 1940 where he fell in love with the Dales and the woman he would marry, Joan Danbury. Wight later wrote stories based on his own adventures as a young country vet, under the pen name James Herriot, quickly becoming one of Britain’s best-loved authors.

The Christmas 2022 episode was filmed in Yorkshire during the searing heatwave of summer 2022, and saw Patricia Hodge return as Mrs Pumphrey (with Derek as Tricki-Woo) with Broughton Hall used as Pumphrey Manor. Harrogate student Imogen Clawson plays Helen’s sister, Jenny Alderson.

Filming is expected to continue through to the summer, with series four broadcast in September this year in the UK. Season three has only recently finished airing in the US.