Film crew shooting All Creatures Great and Small spotted in North Yorkshire

Grassington, Kettlewell and several other picturesque locations in the Yorkshire Dales are providing a backdrop for the new series, which is due to air later this year.

“We are delighted that filmmakers and TV producers are choosing the Dales and recognise it as such a special location for their productions,” said a spokesman for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

Filming began in February and production company Playground Entertainment says the second series will consist of six episodes and a Christmas special.

Channel 5 says viewers can expect "more heart-warming stories from the Dales" with an "ensemble of farmers, animals and townsfolk living in 1930s Yorkshire".

The show, which is set in the fictionalised village of Darrowby, is based on a collection of stories from Glaswegian James Herriot (real name James Alfred Wight ), who wrote about his life working as a newly trained vet in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, in the 1930s.

Those charming tales were adapted for a film and a popular BBC television series, before Channel 5 commissioned another series, which first aired in September 2020 and starred the likes of Nicholas Ralph, who plays James Herriot, Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Rachel Shenton, and Callum Woodhouse.

They are all due to return for the second series but their co-star Diana Rigg, who played Mrs Pumphrey, died in September 2020 and Patricia Hodge will take on her role.

Sir Colin Callender, Executive Producer and Chief Executive of Playground Entertainment, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the exceptional response to the first series and are very appreciative of the support from Channel 5, Masterpiece, All3Media and Screen Yorkshire who have enabled us to return to Darrowby so that audiences can once again enjoy the company of the beloved inhabitants of Skeldale House.

"We were deeply saddened by the passing of Dame Diana Rigg who will always be a treasured member of the All Creatures family.

"Mrs Pumphrey and her overly indulged Pekingese, Tricki Woo, are such iconic and cherished characters in Herriot’s world and we are delighted to welcome the wonderful Patricia Hodge who will join the company as Mrs Pumphrey for series two."