The Yorkshire Vet: Peter Wright on programme's success, cantankerous cat Possum and his new book

“There were so many fans there that it took me well over an hour and a half,” he says, a note of incredulity in his voice. “I do like to chat to people. I feel if people want to come have a word with me, who am I to dismiss them?”

The turnout is testament to how wide an appeal The Yorkshire Vet has. Now in its 16th series, its fanbase and viewing figures are as strong as ever, Wright says. “Our fan base are from children of four years of age through to people in their 90s and there are not many television programmes that can say that. It means a lot to me.”

Back when Leeds-based Daisybeck Studios started producing the programme in 2015, he admits he wasn’t convinced it would take off. “I said it’s a waste of money because these veterinary programmes have been done before and nobody will watch it, it will be boring.”

How wrong he was. “I said to my wife Lin after we first started to make the programme, why do people like this stuff? And she said well they’re not interested in you, they’re interested in patients. I think it is about the animals - but also we live in a wonderful part of the world, in beautiful North Yorkshire and when you throw that into the mix plus the wonderful people we have in Yorkshire…that’s what makes the programme what it is.”

The latest series of the show launched on April 25. Less than three weeks later, The Tales and Tails of a Yorkshire Vet: All in a Day’s Work for Peter Wright was published.

It’s the third book from Wright. His first was his memoir and charted his relationship with Alf Wight - best known by his pen-name James Herriot, from Wright’s work experience with him as a lad to later taking over his practice.

The book was followed by My Yorkshire Great and Small, which sees Wright take readers on a journey through the hidden gems of the region, sharing tales of his life in Thirsk and fascinating nuggets of local history.

His latest offering is about the characters and patients that Wright has met over the course of his career and captures his memories of some of the funniest, most absurd and heart-breaking encounters with animals.

Wright’s mentor and former boss would often say the life of a vet is never dull. And if these recollections are anything to go by, how true Alf Wight was. Wright’s book is an eclectic mix of stories from dealing with a foul-mouthed parrot who turned the air blue, to a cat who ate 13 hairbands and the miraculous resilience of a dog who lost half its skin after being bitten by a snake.

Then there’s Possum, perhaps the world’s most cantankerous cat. What Wright thought was going to be “a nice little job” clipping feline nails turned into an ordeal for all involved when Possum had other ideas. Only after a second visit, with back up support and a sedative, was Wright able to get the job done. “[The book is about] things like that,” he laughs, “how animals when they’re showing their character make fools of us really. They aren’t daft.”

“Our life without animals would be horrible,” he adds. He talks time and again about the power of animals - and he doesn’t mean it lightly. Only recently, he met a young woman whose bond with her animals had helped in her recovery from an eating condition.

“Animals help us in so many different ways, psychologically in particular, and this has been brought home to me time and again. During Covid, people were feeling isolated and vulnerable and so many people have said if it hadn’t been for their animals, they don’t know how they’d have got through - particularly people who were on their own. Their wellbeing was massively helped by animals in their lives.”

Wright himself has always been around animals, though being a vet wasn’t on his radar until he was studying for his A-levels.

His grandad was a farm manager and as soon as Wright could walk, he set about befriending the creatures on the farm. A careers adviser later suggested he consider veterinary science, and, having promptly dismissed their first idea of pursuing dentistry, Wright was sold.

“From an early age, I had this love of animals and going forward to when I had to make decisions about what I was going to do, I thought working with animals would just be fantastic. Then I thought, now I’ve got to somehow follow that dream.”

At the time, James Herriot was starting to become famous through his books on veterinary practice. And, after studying his degree in Liverpool, Wright joined Skeldale vets in Thirsk, where he practised alongside Wight, eventually taking over the clinic.

He stayed there for forty years until 2021, moving then to Grace Lane Vets in Kirkbymoorside so he could continue working with cows and other large farm animals after a drop in the number of dairy herds around Thirsk.

Still, he remains very much connected to the Thirsk community and early next month is set to take on a three-day West to East coast 170-mile cycling challenge to raise funds for a new hospice in the town.

The Herriot Hospice will include an inpatient unit, bereavement support rooms and a community hub and will also become the home for Herriot Hospice Homecare’s much-loved community services.

“I understand how difficult and stressful it is to have a relative being looked after in a hospice or hospital way out of our area,” Wright says. “I have known of people having to travel huge distances to visit their loved ones, and not be able to see them regularly at this most difficult of times…To be able to have this level of care on our own doorstep is priceless.”

With more book signings also to come over the next few months, Wright is a busy man. In fact, life as a vet today is a much faster-pace than when he started out in the 80s, he reflects.

“[The work] was very varied but the pace of life seems, looking back now, much more sedentary. You go to farms nowadays and everyone is so busy - a lot of the family farms have disappeared and at the larger farming enterprises, everybody is scurrying about.

“Farming isn’t easy - it wasn’t easy then but farmers scratched a living on a lot fewer stock than these days. Nowadays, even with larger quantities of stock, it’s very difficult to make a reasonable living.”

It’s not the only change that Wright has witnessed. Many vets qualifying today soon specialise in equine, farm or small animal medicine, he muses, rather than covering all creatures great and small - and there’s then often further specialisation - in cardiology or orthopaedics for example.

“Our profession is changing dramatically and that pace of change is getting greater. People’s expectations have changed a lot. As we get changes in human medicine, people expect that type of service to be afforded to their animals and pets too.”

Wright reflects in his book on the changes he’s witnessed, writing also to capture the emotions that veterinary surgeons experience and bringing together the highs and lows to portray what the life of a vet is really like.

“It’s reliving memories but also there’s a lot of my type of humour in this book as well,” he says. “More of my character comes through I think. I don’t take myself seriously - I do take my work very seriously, but not myself.”

That said, there are difficult moments. Not every animal can be treated and saved. It’s a sad fact of life but one that Wright is finding increasingly difficult to communicate to devastated owners.

“I find it incredibly hard to give bad news, to say sorry I’m sorry she isn’t going to make it, particularly when it’s unexpected. And I find it increasingly difficult as I’ve got older to give bad news even though I’ve got to do it. I don’t know whether it’s because you consider your own vulnerability as you get older or if I’ve got softer - but I do find it hard.”

In those moments, Wright turns to the wise words of Wight, which he has carried with him throughout his career. “Peter, did you do your best?”, he’d asked, when Wright was glum after losing a patient. “Yes”, Wright had replied. “Well, people can ask no more of you than that.”

The Tales and Tails of a Yorkshire Vet, published by Mardle Books is out now. The Yorkshire Vet airs on Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 5. To support Wright’s fundraising, visit https://justgiving.com/campaign/vetpeterwright