Daisybeck Studios: The TV production company behind The Yorkshire Vet and Springtime on the Farm

Its mission since then has remained the same - to create contemporary content with character and story at the core. Unscripted factual entertainment shows are Daisybeck's speciality, especially those showing off Yorkshire in all of its glory.

The Yorkshire Vet for Channel 5 has become its flagship title and its longest running series, but Daisybeck is also behind favourites including Our Great Yorkshire Life, Springtime On The Farm, and Yorkshire Great and Small with Dan (Walker) and Helen (Skelton), as well as producing shows set outside of region too.

“We do make a lot of programmes that are really proud of this amazing space we sit in,” says Mark McMullen, Daisybeck’s creative director. “And we aren’t just making programmes for the north of England, our programmes go out around the world.”

The company, based at Prime Studios on Kirkstall Road in Leeds, was founded by Wakefield-born Paul Stead. These days it is part of the Lionsgate group and has become one of the biggest unscripted production companies outside of London, last year working with over 100 freelancers to produce more than 120 hours of television.

Sophie Macfarlane oversees all production and operational activity at Daisybeck. “Because we are regionally based, we try as much as possible to employ people from the nations and regions,” she says. “And there’s people’s careers that have been made here.”

There’s sometimes a perception that working in TV means moving to the capital, but northern talent is also making hugely successful television, she notes.

“There’s so many opportunities here in Yorkshire and some of the younger generation coming through from uni are very clear that they don’t want to go to London, they want to stay in the north or in the nations and regions, which is really nice.”

Since joining Daisybeck in 2017, Macfarlane has been instrumental in the company’s growth, overseeing hundreds of hours of television across more than 70 titles including The Yorkshire Vet and its spin-offs.

The show first broadcast in 2015, with the original brief to give viewers the “real All Creatures Great and Small”. Over the years, it has regularly attracted more than one million live viewers on Channel 5, with many more watching episodes on demand.

Mike Sinclair has been series editor for five years, as well as continuing to work as an occasional freelance producer on Match of the Day with BBC Sport. “I think people love The Yorkshire Vet so much because it’s real, there’s a rawness to it,” he says.

“The vets are fantastic - you really trust them and you want them to be looking after your animals. Then there’s the Yorkshire scenery, the characters, the farmers, the mix of people and the mix of animals…”

“It is the epitome of Yorkshire,” chips in Charlotte Bruce, the show’s production manager. “Everyone is Yorkshire from the people on the screen to the people behind it. It is such a regional programme and I think so many people inside and outside of Yorkshire want to see what’s going on here.

"People sometimes think you can’t make TV outside of London and we just show, as a successful programme now going over 10 years over twenty series, we can make it happen in Yorkshire and we do daily.”

In the early series, the show followed the goings on at the original James Herriot practice - Skeldale Veterinary Centre in Thirsk, featuring vets Peter Wright and Julian Norton. Over the years, it has grown to focus on other locations across the county too, including a new generation of mixed practice vets in Huddersfield.

“The vets’ day-to-day can be so up and down that you never really know what you are going to get,” Bruce says. “So it keeps the show interesting 20-odd series down the line.”

No two days are the same working on the show either, she says. It’s her job to make sure the production is on budget and on schedule, and to oversee the compliance and legal requirements, and support the crew’s health and safety.

“You never really know what you could be dealing with when you come into work. Obviously there’s the regular things you have to do like making sure the budget is on schedule, making sure the crew is okay, but then something could throw a curveball…”

She lists some of the more unusual - a crew member being bitten by a dog in India, for example, or having to check the regulations around vintage tractors being driven on public roads. “Yeah, you never know what you’re going to get on a day with The Yorkshire Vet.”

Bruce first worked on the show in 2019 and has been production manager since 2023. “Because it’s Daisybeck’s flagship show and it has been for so long, I felt absolutely honoured to be told I’d be working on it, like I can’t believe they’re trusting me with basically what is their baby,” she recalls. “To have your name associated with such a successful brand which everyone in the building loves and the viewers outside love is just an honour."

Daisybeck’s success however is not without challenge, when the television industry as a whole is changing. “People watch telly differently,” muses McMullen, who joined Daisybeck in 2019 after three decades of experience that began at Yorkshire Television.

“They watch on demand and the reality is that commercial channels all still rely on us watching television when they want to put it on - that’s where the revenue comes from. So the big challenge is that they’ve got a lot less money…Which means less commissions and we all have to start pivoting and changing…

"We pride ourselves on moving fast though, on changing direction and accounting for challenges, not being scared and freezing. The people who are going to be successful in the region now are the ones who are accepting change…You have to think differently.”

Key to it all is understanding who is going to pay for the programmes and what those commissioners and their audiences want. “We have a really strong set of people here who are always up for a challenge,” says Macfarlane, who began her career in theatre and stage management before moving to TV production.

“I think that’s something really special about Daisybeck. Even when you go into a room with the craziest of things, people have a moment of going ‘oh my god’ and then it’s straight into right let's work out how we’re going to do that.”

“It’s hard to make TV on a big budget,” she continues, “and it’s even harder, a real skill, to make good television on a small budget, whilst keeping standards high. But I think we do that really well here. We’re proud of that.”

Visit daisybeckstudios.com