'I've made almost as many The Yorkshire Vet episodes as there are of Friends' - Julian Norton
A couple of weeks ago, we started our next filming block. Everyone involved with The Yorkshire Vet has had a break over autumn, but apparently there is a demand for more episodes.
And this demands more stories, more of our time and more occasions when a microphone battery pack goes into the back pocket and the other end of a cable is stuck inside my shirt.
On the first day, the ops list looked promising to a vet, but less than exciting for a TV producer. It was full of simple cases and devoid of drama, stress or potential pitfalls.
That said, we all know that interesting cases can appear out of the blue. Only the previous week, a huge dog presented in need of emergency surgery.
It worked out well for all concerned, but I knew there would be producer/directors who would be frustrated not to have been there.
Three months off filming has been quite pleasant. Yes, I missed working with my mates from telly, but it was a relaxing change, and the first protracted time not having a camera pointing at me in ten years. It’s been quite nice to have been purely a vet for an extended period.
In conversation about the popularity of the show and its lengthy run on Channel 5, people often comment “it must be difficult being filmed all the time.”
It is, but it is a process everyone who is involved has become accustomed to. I’ve always enjoyed explaining what I’m planning to do with a case and why I’m intending to do it.
To relay those points to someone who is holding a camera- someone who by now I know very well- is pretty much the same.
Some of us didn’t think this latest series would be commissioned. Many popular TV shows have been postponed in the last year or so, and the channel had everyone hanging onto the last minute before announcing they wanted us to continue.
In my mind, I’d pretty much decided that this was absolutely fine. We’d had an amazing run- something that nobody could have imagined nor dreamed of. Series twenty will be aired next.
We could be very happy with that. I calculated we’ve transmitted about 220 episodes; almost as many as Friends. But nothing can go on forever and maybe this was the time to bow out and call it a day?
Evidently not. All the main protagonists are back. And we’ve been fortunate to have pretty much the same team of producers, directors and editors for most of the last ten years.
That, in large part, is the reason for the show’s longevity and success.
How the next period will work out I cannot tell.
Interesting, unusual and quirky patients and owners come along every day, but not everyone is happy to be filmed and I reckon about one in three cases that we’d like to film end up in an episode.
But fascinating cases appear by serendipitous chance. Last year, we filmed a case of a bearded collie who had a routine lump removed.
There was nothing outstanding about the lump, other than it was very hard. It was not enormous and the surgery was not charged with jeopardy.
But it turned out the collie accompanied his owner whilst he searched for gold in the rivers of Yorkshire and beyond. The litter of kittens, rehomed, by chance, to a lady who worked at a Yorkshire farm park, had a beautiful back story.
These are things that we find out by engaging in interesting conversations. And, for me, this is really the best bit of it all. The making of great connections; and fabulous experiences.