This is when the All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special 2025 will air on Channel 5 as behind the scenes preview promises unprecedented insight
Channel 5 has announced when the All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special will air, with Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Nicholas Ralph, Rachel Shenton, Callum Woodhouse, Gaia Wise and Patricia Hodge all featuring in the festive outing.
The eagerly-anticipated episode will air on Christmas Eve at 9pm, on 5 and My5.
This is the first December 24 All Creatures Christmas premiere since 2021, underlining the programme’s status as a hugely popular staple of British television tradition.
Along with the air-date confirmation, 5 has issued news about the Christmas episode, called Comfort and Joy:
It’s 1945, the first peace-time Christmas after the war.
Helen is poorly, so James takes on the Darrowby Nativity.
Siegfried is back at Mrs Stokes’s farm to tend Hilda the naughty goat.
Mrs Hall is determined to win the Drovers' darts competition - and a turkey. But an old friend turns up, surprising her and Siegfried (enough of that, for now).
Tristan has forgotten to supply the Drovers’ Christmas tree, as promised to Maggie. Charlotte decides to sort this out.
James dreads disappointing Mrs Pumphrey and her hopes of Tricki’s fatherhood. So he asks for her help - and the result is a Nativity that lifts everyone’s spirits.
As a special bonus, 5 has also confirmed today that a companion documentary called All Creatures Great and Small: Behind the Scenes will air at 8pm on Christmas Eve, giving unprecedented insight into the making of the drama.
Presenter Graeme Hall gets a guided tour by Callum Woodhouse of the All Creatures studios, near Harrogate, including the set of Skeldale House. Graeme appeared in episode 5, filming scenes at Pateley Bridge showground.
The All Creatures Great and Small Christmas episode is the seventh instalment of series six. There has been intense speculation by fans on social media about potential storylines, in particular surrounding the relationship between Mrs Hall (Anna Madeley) and Siegfried (Samuel West).
The good news is that Rachel Shenton is back, following her maternity leave. In an interview with TV Times, Nicholas Ralph said he was delighted at her return and spoke of the “joyful carnage” of the Nativity scenes, adding that Samuel West’s two daughters took part.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post earlier this year, before whole series launch, Rachel said the Christmas episode might bring fun and closeness for Helen and James. “I can’t say anything but, yeah, we do see pockets of that, and their relationship matures every season, which is gorgeous.”
On Good Morning Britain last week, Samuel also spoke about the Christmas special, saying: "We filmed in the middle of June, on the hottest day of the year, pretending to be freezing,” adding: “The only sadness is that that was a regular television-watching date with my parents. We used to sit on the sofa and see it together, that won't happen this year."
Samuel’s mother, Prunella Scales, died in October, while his father, Timothy West, died last November.
Series seven and eight have already been commissioned, and filming is expected to begin next February, as in previous years, in the Yorkshire Dales, although there is no official confirmation of timings and locations.
Produced by BAFTA-winning Playground and adapted from James Herriot’s classic stories, the Christmas Special is written by Neil Jones and Damian Wayling, Andy Hay directing and Yvonne Francas as producer.