All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special 2022 locations and behind the scenes secrets

“When nobody is injured on set and they are handing out ice packs, you know there is something going on, and that was because it was 30-odd degrees,” he says.

Co-star Anna Madeley, who plays housekeeper Mrs Hall, says: “My favourite was when we were sat by the fire. You’ve got about 30 crew in there, and we are all in dressing gowns and slippers. It was baking and everyone was trying to hide the sweat.”

Now an established highlight of the holiday TV schedule, the festive outing shown tonight of All Creatures Great and Small brings to a close series three of the popular Channel 5 adaptation, launched in 2020, of the Herriot novels, penned by Thirsk vet Alf Wight. A signature blend of humour and poignancy, wrapped in a snow-sprinkled, nostalgia-laden Yorkshire Dales setting, saw last year’s special pull in 4.75 million UK viewers.

Nicholas hopes this year’s episode brings “the same uplifting, hopeful, warm, funny, but also touching drama”, adding that getting into the Christmas spirit was not too difficult, thanks to the creativity of the production team.

“One thing that does it for me every time is the decoration of Skeldale House,” he says. “You walk on to that set and you do feel Christmassy. The cloves used in the decorations - there are certain scents.

“We had snow cannons on set, so it’s Christmas out,” he says. Grassington, which is used for Darrowby, is where the outside of Skeldale House is filmed but, for the interior, there is a studio at Summerbridge in Nidderdale.

“This year they have built a proper kitchen to prep there, so we now get the drift of whatever is being made,” Anna says.

“The smells were so good,” says Nicholas. “Where they cook is right next to our green room. Everybody was in the little kitchen, which was covered in a full roast from one end to the other, and everyone was picking little bits.”

As ever, animals steal show, and this Christmas sees James called to see Mrs Pumphrey (Patricia Hodge) who has a kitten abandoned by its mum at Pumphrey Manor, for which Broughton Hall near Skipton is used. “The kitten was fine. It maybe scurried off once or twice. But it was the older cat,” says Nicholas. “I don’t know what was going on. Maybe it was my aftershave, but it would just not sit next to me.”

Derek, the Pekingese that plays Tricki Woo, was “completely non-plussed”, he adds. “He’s never really bothered about anything.”

Written by Ben Vanstone, this year’s festive tale is set in Christmas 1939, with the world at war and the folk of Darrowby coming to terms with regulations and separations. Newly married James and Helen (Rachel Shenton) are living with Siegfried (Samuel West), Tristan (Callum Woodhouse), Mrs Hall and a young Jewish refugee called Eva (Ella Bernstein).

“We almost see Darrowby through her eyes - the different cultures coming together, different traditions at that time of year, and she brings that innocence,” Nicholas says.

In Darrowby there are windows taped and barricades in place. Anna says: “For Mrs Hall, looking at James and Helen, having just got married and faced with war, it’s an echo of her story, and there will probably be a lot more to come.

“It’s a time when instincts come into play, and actions of the heart. She bumps into Gerald at the market and hears that he is off to Hull with work, as a result of the war. They weren’t going to have a Christmas party, but we end up having one as a farewell to Gerald.

“Her relationship with Siegfried is getting richer and closer. They learn more about each other through the series, and then Gerald is a really wonderful friend that she can share that bit of history with, but also they have a present-day really wonderful affection for one another. He has opened her up to the idea that there might be life - she is still technically married - if she chose to pursue it, but I think that’s a bit too much for her at the moment.”

Looking ahead to series four, which will start filming in Yorkshire in the spring, Nicholas says he has no idea what James’s storylines will bring. “We get the scripts almost before we are about to do it,” he says.

“I obviously know the books and know how how they play out, that is something that is always in my mind, but at the same time ours is an adaption, we are not going by the books chapter by chapter so, much like people watching, I’m just ready for the next script and seeing where we are going to go with it - and nothing is off the table, I don’t think.”

The Christmas special sees Siegfried treating an injured racehorse and feeling compromised by local laird Seabright-Saunders (whose country pile is filmed at Sawley Hall in Nidderdale).

Anna says: “Siegfried is deeply concerned about keeping everybody happy and working and at home and not feeling guilty about the fact that their very work is really important.”

Tristan, meanwhile, is taking a long, hard look at his life and relationships. Anna says: “Tristan has been growing up, and has had some real roller-coasters throughout this series. He is becoming more and more of his own man, which is wonderful and means that he needs to come out from under the arm of his older brother.”

Harrogate student Imogen Clawson is back as Helen’s sister, Jenny, and there is a festive role for Helen’s father, Richard Alderson (Tony Pitts), described by Anna as “the most delightful grumpy Santa.”

Nicholas says: “He is hilarious as Santa Claus. There have been so many moments on set where I have found it really difficult to not break into laughter. I have always managed, but with Santa, I really, really struggled, because he was so good. Thankfully, I was off camera around the corner.”

Becoming a staple of the UK Christmas TV schedule is an honour, they say. Nick: “You think back over the years, of the Christmas specials and the New Year’s Eve specials, and to now be part of that in a little way is so good.”

Anna says: “It’s really touching, very special, sort of carries a responsibility with it, a bit of pride, but mostly it’s really exciting that you are in people’s houses and on their tellies.”

Talking of the classic BBC series of All Creatures Great and Small, which ran from 1978 to 1990, there are fans who would like to see Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison make cameo appearances in this series. Nicholas has not heard of any plans for this to happen but says: “I can certainly say I would love to see some of them in the show, of course I would, I’d love that.”

Will there be more seasons after the fourth? Nicholas says: “There are so many stories, and these characters, because they are based on real people, are so multifaceted, and there is so much fun to be had while playing them. If there was to be a feature film as well, that would be quite fun.”

It will run “as long as it has an audience that likes to watch it,” says Anna. “There are still so many great storylines that we can use, and it’s been written so well, and we all have a lot of fun doing it, so hopefully a long time.”

All Creatures Great and Small is on tonight at 9pm on Channel 5 and can be watched after on My5.