Yorkshire Vet stars Peter Wright and Julian Norton speak ahead of series 10

Judging by the success of one Yorkshire television show, however, rural living is still very much on the minds of British audiences.

The tenth series of the Yorkshire Vet will begin tonight on Channel 5, an outing that comes five years into the show’s existence and that, by the end of the year, is due to have delivered 100 episodes charting the daily lives of those who help and heal beloved pets in North Yorkshire.

As with other shows about the region such as Our Yorkshire Farm, featuring Amanda Owen, and the BBC’s Countryfile, cast members hope that it will allow viewers to reconnect with rural communities.

Maintaining that the show’s “real stars are the animals”, Mr Wright, 63, told The Yorkshire Post: “A lot of people nowadays are divorced from agriculture and where their food comes from and the programme does give that link with our rural and agricultural communities.

"People have forgotten that link. It gives people a bit of a jolt in that respect.”

It also harks back to the charm of the earlier Herriot released - it is 50 years since the first book - as wild and wonderful animals are presented with a host of puzzling ailments.

This time, viewers can see a eight-year-old Jack Hogg, who keeps chickens, giving them a steam shower after they were suffering with sinusitis.

Mr Norton said: "I suggested that he takes them in the bathroom to give them a sort of steam treatment. It's good for clogged-up mucus. Quite a lot of people have cats with this problem."

Elsewhere the vets are confronted with a goose with a sex injury, and the woes of Norton’s own pet rabbit Boris - named by his children because he is “a bit droopy and looked a bit inert and inept” - which is, it is revealed, in need of castration.

Mr Norton, 47, said: “The drama [is something] that I’m experiencing and the nurses and Ann, my wife, we’re all experiencing first hand.

"The thing that makes it really interesting and exciting is you know that when that gets on telly there will be one and a half million people sitting on their sofa getting that same sense of drama and tension.”

He remembers the reaction of one client previously on the show, a reticent farmer whose bull was having fertility issues.

Remembering his interview, Mr Norton said: “He started crying. I remember thinking, in normal life no one has the time and inclination to ask, ‘How do you feel about that?’ It’s a really powerful thing to do.

“It provokes emotions and reactions in people maybe we should do a bit more, really.”

“North Yorkshire is the other lead character in the series,” he said. But characters such as Steve and Jean Green, who run a farm near Thirsk, have also captured viewers’ hearts.

On a recent trip to the Ritz in London - on one of their first few trips out of Yorkshire - someone recognised them.

Mr Sinclair said: I didn't expect that. For them it's been life-changing in the later years of their life."

The new series of The Yorkshire Vet starts tomorrow at 8pm on Channel 5.