The Yorkshire Vet 100th episode to air - but the show almost never happened

Channel 5's show is now in its tenth series, a milestone celebrated earlier this year.

Its centenary episode is broadcast at 8pm on Tuesday next week.

Peter Wright, who stars in the show, said that Skeldale - the former workplace of famous veterinarian and author James Herriot - was contacted in 2014 by Leeds-based Daisybeck Studios.

"I said 'you're wasting your time, you're wasting your money, nobody will watch this stuff. It's all been done before'."

He added: "Having thought about it, I've never shirked a challenge. I said, 'Go on, I'll give it a go'."

That was after Daisybeck managing director Paul Stead gave him until the end of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend in 2015 to make up his mind.

Mr Wright said: "I picked the phone up on the Tuesday morning not even knowing what I was going to say.

"Paul said, 'Trust me, I will not let you down' and Paul never, ever has."

A reason it has worked, he said, is the small crew - just a camera and a boom microphone.

Mr Wright said: "When they came they were nice and normal people - not at all what I was expecting."

Now they're "part of the Skeldale family," he said.

The mixture of the "diversity of animals" and the "beautiful countryside" makes it successful, he believed.

Over the years, Mr Wright says he has met hundreds of thousands of fans and loves to do so.

He said: "It has been a real adventure. And it still is an adventure."

Julian Norton, another star of the show, who "It's amazing isn't it? Again, we never would have expected this.

"It puts it in the same kind of categories like the long-standing programmes."

He said: "We thought it would never manage to keep going because there are only so many things to happen to a dog or cat or on a farm. We quickly came to realise it's not what happened with the animals, it's what happens with the people around them."

Mr Norton praised Daisybeck and its crews.

He said: "It's been a really exciting and interesting journey meeting some great friends along the way learning new skills. I know nearly as much about making a television series as being a vet."

And he is grateful to clients for letting them film, which has got easier as the show has become more established, he said.

"Thanks to the people of Yorkshire and their animals."

The 100th episode of The Yorkshire Vet is on Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 5.