All Creatures Great and Small: Stars Nicholas Ralph, Rachel Shenton and Samuel West on returning to the Dales to film series five

“Just the drive to work never gets old,” says Rachel, who plays Helen Harriot.

“Sometimes we’d be having a chat with the driver and then you’d just look ahead, and maybe the sun’s setting, or the sun's coming up, or the clouds are parting, and you just stop for a minute. Both of you will stop talking just to look at the view because it's just so breathtaking. Never take that for granted.”

Ralph, who plays James Herriot, was struck afresh at the sheer beauty surrounding him after spending a week filming RAF scenes in lovely but rather flat Lincolnshire.

“The Dales in general, so picturesque,” he says. “You can just completely understand why James Herriot fell in love with the place, why these stories then have sold so many and have resonated with people all over the world.”

For Samuel West, who plays Siegfried Farnon, the Yorkshire Dales have been key to the show’s success from the start. “We were enormously privileged, lucky, I suppose - and maybe if we hadn't had that luck, we wouldn't be speaking now - to come out in lockdown, at a time when people wanted scenery that they couldn't see, and community that they couldn't feel. “And so we put at the centre of our series two things which are not about us as individuals, the ensemble and the countryside - and personally, as an actor, and as a person, being part of something bigger than myself is the greatest thrill.”

Series five will air this coming Thursday, September 19, at 9pm. It is spring 1941 and young baby Jimmy is four months old, Helen is embracing single motherhood, with James away at RAF Abingdon, and Mrs Hall and Siegfried are enjoying having a little one around.

Baby Jimmy is keeping the whole ACGAS team on its toes. “The baby has changed everything for us,” says Anna Madeley, who plays Mrs Hall. “The babies,” she corrects herself (there are three real babies for episodes 1-6, plus two more for the Christmas special).

“It's always work with babies and animals,” says Samuel. “That's the rule.”

Rachel says a real baby brings focus to the set. “Everyone has to be super-ready and sharp, and usually everyone's tone gets lowered a little bit.” For rehearsals, a so-called jelly baby was used - although this was rather heavier than the real Jimmys.

“Concrete baby is what we call him,” says Nicholas. Episode one reveals that the often crotchety Siegfried has become a doting uncle. “Speaking personally, Jimmy is by far Siegfried’s favourite member of the household, and the person with whom he has the best conversations, actually,” says Samuel.

“As somebody who didn't have children, he turns out, rather to his own surprise, to be better at dealing with them than he thought he was.

"And I think that's a really nice depth to the character, because we know from the back story that he and Evelyn didn't have children, because he came back from the first war so traumatised, and then, through looking after the young Tristan, decided that maybe they could have a go. And by the time it was possible, when he’d come round to it, his wife was too ill and then died.”

Sharing their insight and experiences of making series five, the actors explained where viewers will find their characters at the start of the new run.

James is continuing this training at RAF Abingdon, says Nicholas, adding that he is expected soon to undertake real missions. “He's the older one of these young recruits, he's got about 10 years of life experience on a lot of them, so I think he feels that pressure and that responsibility.”

With James away, trainee vet Richard Carmody, introduced in series four, is now part of the furniture, and eager to step up, suggesting new ways of running a tighter ship, not always successfully.

James Anthony-Rose, who plays him, says: “With every episode, I think we see that Carmody is growing as a young man who is really finding that there's life outside of books and academia, and that there's things that he can contribute to society, and this community, specifically.”

But it is Mrs Hall who is to show Skeldale House, and viewers, what stepping up really means, as she begins to look outside Skeldale for a new purpose.

Anna says: “We know from her back story that she was very active in the First World War and the Wrens, and now, at this phase of her life, she's thinking, well, what can she do?

“We meet a wonderful character called Bosworth, played by the brilliant Jeremy Swift, who is looking for wardens locally to do all the ‘close your curtains, turn the light off’, all that local work. So she decides she wants to give that a go.”

There is a special moment to look out for in episode one when Mrs Hall appears for the first time in her new warden’s uniform (the look on Siegfried’s face is quite the moment, too).

“It's stunning,” says Anna of the uniform. “Ros Little, our designer, had it made at Cosprop. It makes you feel very smart and very upright, and very ready to do a job, to go out and do something.

"It gives you a little lift inside to be wearing that. I think it probably reignites that sense of pride she had being in the Wrens.”

Also smart in uniform is Tristan Farnon, as actor Callum Woodhouse returns after an absence in series four.

He said that the plan was always to return. “I just slotted back in so comfortably and so well and was having all of the same banter and jokes with all of the same cast and crew that’s still with us from series one. Yes, it was really lovely.”

Nicholas says: “The show missed Tristan, and we really missed Callum, so it was just a real boost to the show, to everybody on set. And James and Tristan, we've got a wonderful relationship as well. So we had some fun scenes to do later in the series.”

“It's fabulous having Callum back on set,” says Anna. “We missed him, and he always knows what's the best thing to eat on the lunch menu.”

There are surprises in store for all the characters.

Samuel says: “There's a moment later in the series where Carmody tells me he hasn't seen me in the company of a woman since he arrived.” ACGAS fans will know that this begs so many questions.

A lovely storyline to look out for, says Rachel, centres on the growing independence of Jenny (played by young Harrogate actor Imogen Clawson).

“I think we have watched Jenny slowly slipping away from being Helen's little sister for a couple of seasons now, probably, and I think that season five really confirms that,” she says.

Meanwhile, on location, the crowds of fans that come to watch the filming get bigger with every year. “It's like doing theatre when we're in Grassington,” Rachel says. “Rain or shine, really, they're there. And they stay for the day.

“Everybody's there because they love the show, which is lovely, but it is growing every year, isn't it?” she asks Nicholas, who says: “It really is.” This year, he says, he met a woman from the States, who was on an All Creatures tour of locations. “And she extended her trip because she heard we were coming to Grassington,” he says, with some surprise.

The filming and the crowds can be disruptive for locals, but the production team is expert now at keeping everyone happy and ensuring that the show goes on. The cast pay tribute to the residents of the Dales, and they help they give.

Rachel says: “It's just so overwhelming, the support that we get from the local community, and it wouldn't be possible without it.”

All Creatures Great and Small series five airs on Channel 5 this Thursday, September 19, at 9pm