Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob, and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

After a season of uncertainty, England is at war.

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Tristan He’s doing it to keep me back.

Mrs. Hall What’re you talking about?

Tristan He’s got his old army pal to scupper my enlistment.

James He wouldn’t.

Tristan I guarantee it.

Jace And while James and Tristan debated signing up and joining the cause, Tris has finally been called up, saying goodbye to his brother, the practice, and the Dales.

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Siegfried Just don’t do anything stupid, promise me?

Tristan I promise I won’t disgrace the family name.

Siegfried Tristan, please! Bloody well listen for once – don’t do anything stupid, d’ya hear – promise me.

Tristan And break the habit of a lifetime?

Jace It’s the first married Christmas for James and Helen, with an unexpectedly grumpy Skeldale House Santa Claus — James’ father-in-law.

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Richard So you been good there, lass?

Eva Are you the real Father Christmas? Your beard doesn’t look real and I don’t think it’s very nice to pretend to be someone you’re not.

Richard Well he’s a pal o’ mine, and he says it’s alright.

Eva  You know if you lie you get a lump of coal.

Richard Here.

Eva Do you not have any sweets?

Richard No, I’ve got an orange.

Jace As usual, Rachel Shenton is able to unpack a full season of drama with grace and aplomb, and she returns to the podcast to do just that.

This week we are joined by All Creatures Great and Small star Rachel Shenton. Welcome.

Rachel Shenton Hello. Thank you for having me.

Jace I love the scene where Helen and Audrey sit down with a whiskey and have that exchange about Siegfried and buttons.

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Mrs. Hall Mister Farnon likes to keep his buttons in different boxes. When they get all mixed up he struggles to cope.

Helen I’ve starting to feel like I might be a button too many.

Mrs. Hall He takes time to adjust.

Helen We all do.

Mrs. Hall It’s a big table for just three people. It’s a big house.

Helen I remember coming here to pay the bill when it was just you and Siegfried.

Mrs. Hall My goodness it were chaos.

Helen You soon got it in order.

Mrs. Hall You do know there’s no need for you to be tucked up there all the time.

Helen I like it – it’s like a private corner of the world that’s ours alone.

Mrs. Hall That’s lovely to hear. That don’t mean you have to keep yourself squirreled away.

Helen It’s not that we don’t want to come down.

Mrs. Hall Well then what’s stopping you?

Jace What did you make of this scene with Anna Madeley, and is this the conversation that does the trick at making this place finally feel like home for Helen?

Rachel Yeah, I think so, because it was a real moment, so I think she starts off and she feels great. You know, she’s, this is new, feeling my feet a little bit, but it’s going to be great. And I think she’s quite looking forward to she knows everyone, she grew up in the village knows them very well. But I think then it changed to, oh, I’m not sure if I can do this, actually, and maybe this isn’t working. I think there’s a real there was probably a real moment of, oh my goodness, is this what it’s going to be like now? And again, I think that’s just very real and that conversation with Mrs. Hall is was just, she needed to hear that. I think she needed to actually hear it is sort of okay, she heard it from James, but she thinks that he would always say that and he would, but she just needed to hear that. And I think she heard it from the right person as well. And the hug wasn’t scripted. We did that. We I think I think a chink of glasses was scripted, if I remember correctly. But then we you know, we felt like a hug was right. And I think it was that we got that we did.

Jace No, I’m very glad that you did. I mean, that was it to me that made that moment, that it just felt familial and it felt comfortable more than, yeah, sort of clinking glasses in a sort of toast. But to actually sort of embrace and feel the love between these people and feel that this is sort of home and hearth and heart. I think that was a good that there was a great move, that made the scene for me.

Rachel I think I thought so, too. So thank you. If I say it myself, I thought so too.

Jace Helen says of James, ‘You always put other people ahead of yourself. It’s a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing too.’ Does she see that one of her husband’s best attributes might also be his weak spot that might get him into trouble?

Rachel Yeah, and I think she’s always seen that. That’s what she thought about him the very, very first time she met him, when he was up on a wall and she watched his…she watched his interaction with Siegfried and, you know, one of the first sort of meaningful exchanges they had really, she said, ‘Stand up to him, he’ll thank you for it’. So I think she saw that straight away. That his kind of kindness might not always and it might not always be received that well, and that sometimes with the Dales farmers and the likes of Siegfried, you’ve got to be tough, you’ve got to be tough or those sorts will eat you alive. And I like that she’s not scared to tell him because I think he needs to hear that sometimes.

Jace She ends up getting caught in the middle of the TB testing scheme. She understands the danger that TB presents to the population, she knows the good that James can do with catching it, but she also understands what it means to farmers who would have to slaughter their livestock and close their farms. Is Helen, in that sense, sort of uniquely positioned to get both sides here?

Rachel Absolutely. Yeah. Totally unique position. She can see it quite simply. Yeah, she can see it from the farmer’s perspective. She knows, particularly smallholder farmers, what it means for one animal to go down to, you know, a decent dent in your earnings. And sometimes it’s hand-to-mouth that month because of that or whatever. And so she understands that very much because she’s lived it. But she also knows that James is doing it for the greater good and that ultimately this is something that saves lives and it’s the right thing to do. But it doesn’t mean that decision was a was easy for her at all, actually.

Jace I mean, she knows she has to ask Richard to help James and sign up for the testing. But she also knows it won’t be easy, as you say. And she puts off that conversation as long as she possibly can. What does she make of the fact that her dad won’t commit?

Rachel I think she respects it. I think she respects it because even the way that Helen delivers that and the way that it’s not um…she’d love, she’d love Richard Alderson to be on board. But she knows that that’s a really big ask. So she promises James that she’ll ask him. She does. And that’s it. She asks him. She doesn’t lay it on thick. She doesn’t do it. She didn’t try to persuade him. And if he said no then and that was his definitive answer, then she would have accepted that, I think. It was just you know, it just so happens that he did the real noble thing. And in the pub sort of backed James’s corner, which is amazing. And so just made Helen’s life much easier. But I really think she was prepared for it not to go that way as well.

Jace I mean, one of the things I love about Helen is, as you said, her practicality, the sense of her sort of just get on with it attitude. She says, about the possibility of war, ‘You know, if it does happen, we’ll just have to muck in all of us we’ll get through it.’ I mean, is this bravado or is this just Helen Harriot at this point that’s just sort of, if this happens, we’ll do what we need to do.

Rachel I think it’s Helen Herriot, absolutely. Yeah. It’s just that that’s what she does. She gets on with it. She’s a coper, and I do think, you know, it’s very real at that time that she doesn’t know what’s going to happen, there’stalk of the war, there’s also, you know, people believing that it will probably be over by Christmas. And I think that might be one of them. So even though that is her attitude, she obviously doesn’t understand the enormity of it. And so in that moment, that’s what she thinks. Doesn’t matter what happens, we’ll get through it.

Jace Helen’s concern over the TB testing scheme sort of reaches a fever pitch when there is a TB case at Heston Grange. And Richard asks James to look the other way, and Richard then goes ahead and ends up killing the cow. What does Helen make of her dad’s behavior and the messiness of this situation that seemingly keeps getting compounded?

Rachel Again, I think she’s not surprised, completely. It’s not a total shock. She understands why. But what I love about Helen is she always does what’s right and not what’s easy. It’s my favorite thing about her and she just knows that he’s, that that’s not how it’s going to go and that she has to tell Richard Alderson that in no uncertain terms, that’s not how it’s going to go. And fortunately, he listens. And I think in that scene in the kitchen where she’s confronting him, it’s about the bigger picture. And she’s great at doing that kind of stepping back and being like she understands what that means for Heston Grange and the finances of the farm. But come on, bigger picture. And then in that moment, there’s a really interesting moment because Jenny says, what about James being called up, obviously.

Jace Jenny raises the possibility that if James is struck off, he has to go fight. And Helen takes control of the situation. She forces her dad to call the Ministry of Agriculture.

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Helen Go and phone the MAG. Sooner this is all straightened out, the better.

Richard Aye.

James To be fair to your dad, he was just trying to protect you both. As was I.

Jenny We can look after ourselves, James.

James Understood. Just… don’t be too hard on him. When it comes to the people you love, sometimes judgment goes out the window. You do whatever you can to protect them, no matter the cost.

Jace That line seems to awaken somewhat of a realization within Helen. What clicks within her in this moment about her husband and what he’s perhaps concealing from her?

Rachel I think it’s one of those things that you can. You know, when you of cognitively understand something and then you understand it in your body, you go, ‘Oh.’ I think Helen has always on some level known that he was interested in, or interest is probably the wrong word, but you know, intrigued or had a moral obligation to fight. And just as everybody is, she knows that she’s heard that. But I don’t think she really fully understood that until that moment. And she could see it. You know, she can probably see the conflict in his eyes. And she probably could have seen that before if she was looking, but she just didn’t want to. And then in that moment, she understands it in her body. And then I think I think she brings it out with him in the car and the following scene, if I got that right.

Jace Yeah. And then they see that they see the children’s transport arrive and you see something change physically within both James and Helen, they’ve just been speaking about how important James’s work in the Dales is, as though Helen’s trying to convince both of them that this is how it’s going to be. And then they see these kids. Is this then the moment where unspoken everything changes for them and they know there’s only one action to be taken here.

Rachel I think it’s certainly becoming, I can only speak for Helen, I think it certainly becomes very real in that moment and. Before then it was people, whispers, you know, army recruitment officers. But it didn’t feel as close as that. And. And I think, again, it’s just fear of sort of an almost panic from her of what does this mean? I don’t know, is that the moment that she thinks he’s going to go or do she still think there’s a possibility of sort of fighting for, fighting for her to stay? Maybe she still does in that in that exact moment, but it certainly feels more real then, for sure.

Jace Helen’s TB forms are accidentally mailed by Mrs. Hall. James ultimately manages to get away with the error by the skin of his teeth. But it’s Helen in one of my favorite Helen scenes of the series — she is a force of nature with the imposing Harcourt, and she delivers this blistering speech.

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Harcourt Signed or not, you still tried to pull the wool over my eyes and that’s a sackable offence.

Helen My husband is not a liar. In fact he’s one of the best people you’re ever likely to meet!

Harcourt Kindly control your wife, Herriot, or else I shall have to –

Helen You can talk to me, I’m right here! And I’ll have my say, if you don’t mind. Even when he makes mistakes, James is never anything but honest. And every single thing he does is about helping other people, and if you knew him like I do, you’d know he’d never lie. Look, Dales farmers are a tough bunch – they know their mind and they’re not easily swayed. I should know, I’m one of them. Now here’s the truth of it: James worked hard to win their trust. He’s the one that got them signed up to your TB testing scheme. Without him, not one of them would have agreed to it. Not one. If you strike him off now you’ll lose all of them, I can promise you that. And with them, any hope of controlling TB in this county. My husband’s a good man and right now we need good men more than ever.

Harcourt Much as I’d like to see you dragged across the coals, the truth is your wife is right. You’re a lucky man, Herriot.

Jace What is this confrontation, this impassioned speech, ultimately mean to Helen?

Rachel Oh, I love that scene. It was probably one of the favorite. It’s probably my favorite, my favorite scene of the season. I mean, although I really loved the wedding and stuff, but I loved that so much. And then it got rewritten the day before. I remember being like, ‘Oh my goodness!’ And it was so much better. So you don’t mind a late rewrite when it’s better. It was great. Now in that moment, what I loved about that scene is she it was fighting for her life and for James, her life as she knew it. And I know that sounds dramatic, but I think there was a real. She knows the threat now. She knows if she’s not a vet, if he’s not a vet there, what’s going to happen. It’s not, ‘If he’s not a vet, how will they cope for money?’ It’s, ‘If he’s not a vet he won’t be around here anymore because he’s going to go off.’ And I and that just felt it’s, she was in fight or flight. You know she was really fiercely protective and I love I loved that. But I think that’s what she was fighting for. Of course, again, there’s always there’s always the justice is a big part. She’ll always do what’s right. Absolutely. She wouldn’t have fought that corner if it was, you know, something that was morally incorrect, obviously, but that was the driver behind that. It didn’t have so much to do with the TB testing.

Jace No. We get the sense that this is sort of an existential threat to her life,

Rachel Absolutely.

Jace To James, to their marriage, to all of it, that all of it is on the line. And she is ultimately the toughest fighter in the Dales and proves herself in that scene to be just that tough. So I love that scene so much.

Rachel Thank you. Me too.

Jace James ultimately does decide to enlist, and there is this beautiful scene with James and Helen in the bedsit. James says, ‘All I know is that I could never forgive myself if I did nothing.’ Does Helen see the truth of James’s words here? Does she understand what it would mean to his morality if he didn’t enlist?

Rachel When you said about the moment that she realizes,  I think it’s then. Yeah. That she sees that in him. And I think, I think there’s part of her that agrees now. Because bigger picture, again, she’s always good at the right thing. And I think when she has a chance to step back and takes herself out of the equation, doesn’t operate from fear and just looks at it as a bigger picture, she can totally see that he’s probably right. I mean.

Jace This year’s Christmas episode is lovely, but there is this sense of tension in the air as they wait for James’s letter to arrive. There is this this real sense that everything is about to change, and no one’s really sort of talking about it. They’re talking around it. Did filming this Christmas episode feel different to you in that way than the previous ones?

Rachel Yeah, it did. Absolutely did. It had to. It had to. There was an air of yeah, there was an air of the seriousness that we haven’t seen before in All Creatures. We felt the weight of what was looming. It could not. Obviously, the arrival of evacuee Eva, who was a beautiful addition. And it was it was still All Creatures. It was still steeped in community and love and togetherness. But also there was this undercurrent of fear and things might not be the same again. And I thought again it was just perfectly, perfectly captured. And then they had a little bit of everything. My personal favorite thing of the of the Christmas special was Richard Alderson as Santa. I mean, I thought that was a great job from the writing team.

Jace The crankiest Santa ever, quite possibly. You mentioned Eva. She is obsessed with The Wizard of Oz and the refrain of, ‘There’s no place like home’ sort of echoes throughout this episode. Tristan’s letter comes and he leaves Darrowby. What is Helen make of Tristan’s departure and what it potentially bodes for James?

Rachel I think it’s that unspoken thing is of, ‘Gosh, this is very close now and it could only be a matter of time’. And I she was very emotional saying bye to Tristan, sort of visibly emotional. And that was because of the wonderful bond that she had with Tristan, but also because she knew, you know, she knew that it may or may not be that long before she has to do that with James And then that’s almost it’s again, it’s almost too much for her to bear. There’s a, there was a scene in the series where everybody had gone out and she, yeah, she just sat, just on the stairs and cried.

Jace Oh. Series four of All Creatures is looming and hopefully won’t feature Helen sitting on the stairs, crying again.

Rachel Hopefully not.

Jace Hopefully not. What do you hope is is in the cards for James and Helen?

Rachel Oh, what do I hope? Oh, I don’t know. It’s quite exciting, isn’t it? I hope there’s more hope there’s more fun to be had. But I’m also aware that we are, you know, the time that we are World War II is very real. So, um, but I still hope that there’s a lot of that relationship can keep deepening and they can keep becoming more, what I saw this season, which I think was lovely and I’d like to see more of, is that we saw them transition from the kind of gooey newlyweds, you know, stealing kisses when Richard Alderson’s not looking, to a team that stick together and are there for each other. And it was it was more grounded and real and that was really lovely to  both play, you know, and read. So I’d like to see more of that. I hope that’s more of that.

Jace Though. Helen does always give James a kiss before he goes out on a call.

Rachel She does, that’s true. That’s what I always remember that bit from talking to Rosie..

Jace Is that right? Yeah. Did you get that from Rosie? I think Nick had said that, you got that from Rosie.

Rachel Yeah, I did. We always, well, I bug Rosie every season with, you know, I get the scripts in, and I’m like, ‘Right. Can I ask you this? Can I ask you this?’ And she’s always so brilliant with given as little anecdotes and stories and things that really help us sort of find those little bits of gold. And that was one of them that they always they would greet each other with a kiss and they always leave each other with a kiss. So we try and do that as much as we can.

Jace I love that. Callum Woodhouse is Tristan is heading to war, it seems, and his scene on the train at the end of the Christmas episode had a sense of finality for now. Might Skeldale House be a little emptier when we pick back up in Series four?

Rachel Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I’ve not read, I’ve obviously not read anything yet, but for sure. With Tristan, in a way, it will there’s going to be a there’s going to be a fun-sized hole missing. There’s going to be a, he brings the fun, he brings the laughter. He’s a cheeky chappie. He’s going to be missed around Skeldale. I wonder who’s going to be rubbing Siegfried up the wrong way. I don’t. I don’t know. Might just be a bit boring without him. But I’m looking for. I’m looking forward to reading what’s in store. So it’s just as exciting for us to get the scripts. It really is.

Jace Rachel Shenton, thank you so very much. 

Rachel Aw, thanks so much!

Jace We’ll take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we’ll speak again with Nicholas Ralph… 

And we are back once again to talk about the finale of All Creatures Great and Small with star Nicholas Ralph, welcome.

Nicholas Ralph Hello, Jace. Thanks for having me on.

Jace So James and Helen are just talking about how important James’ work in the Dales, when they witness the children’s transport arrive in Darrowby and something clicks within the couple, you can see it in both of their faces.

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James On the one hand I want to hold you close and never let you go. And on the other I want to fight for you with every fibre of my being.

Helen I understand that. But the war’s hundreds of miles away, and there’s no certainty it’ll happen. I hope you know that what you’re doing here is incredible, James. I am so proud of you.

James What’s going on?

Helen They’re evacuees…Oh James look at their little faces…

Jace Is this the moment seeing these children evacuated to the country where everything changes for James, where he doubts his ability to stay?

Nicholas Yeah. I mean, yeah, it’s just it’s just been kind of piling on and piling on, you know, since episode one, we just see we see more and more of the War kind of arriving in Darrowby. We hear more on the radio. We see young men going off, we see more and more RAF, Army, Navy folks within the town recruiting people and recruitment drives and posters and what to do if there is, you know, instructions for if there’s anything was to happen. So we just see more and more of that happening. And then and then we have this bus load of little people, you know, taken from their families, driven out to the country and given, given homes for this time. So it’s yeah, I think if nothing else, that’s something that absolutely brings it brings it home and. Yeah. Along with everything else.

Jace James ultimately does decide to enlist. He says, ‘If I don’t put myself forward, then who am I? All I know is I could never forgive myself if I did nothing.’ And that seems to connect back to that conversation with Wilfred in episode one of this series, where he sort of questions what the point is of these vets, of James Herriot, how much struggle has occurred within James to actually make this decision? What’s on the line here for him? Newly married, newly promoted to partner in this practice. What is he giving up and how difficult a decision is this?

Nicholas Yeah. Hugely, hugely difficult. Well, I think he sees it all laid out in front of him. He’s engaged to Helen he’s really coming into his own as a veterinary surgeon. He’s given more and more responsibility all the time. And he’s you know, he’s being accepted by the community now, the farmers, they’re getting to know this city slicker when he first came in, this young wet behind the years vet. And I think, yeah, I think he can see the next 5, 10 years laid out in front of him. And it  all looks quite rosy. And then we have this huge struggle for James throughout the season of thinking what the best thing to do? Where is he most valuable? The shame and guilt, obviously, that comes along with seeing these young men and signing up and going off and but knowing that there was a lot of societal pressures at the time as well. And it’s a very valid reason, of course, he’s a, you know, reserved occupation as a as a vet and has huge amounts to offer the community in what he’s doing already. But yeah, I think he just he just can’t see past these young men going off and the buildup more and more and more of everything that’s going on, and the evacuees. He has to do it, it’s a sense of duty. And he’s always got that as well, that sense of duty in that sense of what’s right.

Jace James goes to enlist and he’s stopped by Tristan, who says that he’ll walk with him. And as they get closer and closer to the front of the queue, Tristan doesn’t leave James’s side. How important was it that this realization for both of them, these two best of friends, was delivered without spoken words?

Nicholas I think it was…I think it was perfect and. Because they have their little, you know, they have a chair at the wall of Skeldale House. And just before walking in over and Tristan says, you know, I’ll come with you.’ And then, yeah, they’re still there. And James says, you know, ‘You better leave now otherwise, you know, you might get you might get signed up yourself.’ And it’s, you know, words are needed. No words are needed. There’s that that bond between them as well now that we’ve seen throughout the three seasons of best friends and brothers. Yeah, no words are needed. I think it’s perfect.

Jace Then we come to this Year’s Christmas special, which to me has a sense of tension in the air that isn’t present in the previous two Christmas specials. Tristan’s letter comes, though Siegfried tries his hardest to prevent his brother from going to war. And there’s a real sense in this episode that everything is about to change. Due to that sense of transformation, did filming this Christmas episode feel differently to you from previous years?

Nicholas Yeah. As you say, it’s. It does it does it. It takes a slightly different road as well because we don’t. Well, initially, we’re not going to be having the usual traditional Christmas Eve Skeldale House party. And of course, once Mrs. Hall hears some news from Gerald, she you know, and it’s all hands on deck trying to put something together. But even so, it’s still not the big kind of celebration that we’re used to.

Jace Well, it’s not a party. It’s not a party. We’re just having a few people around for drinks, right?

Nicholas Exactly. I mean, the filming of it is always funny because we’re out there and it’s 30 degrees and we filmed this during the heatwave in June in, you know, three pieces and you always know you’re in trouble on set when they’re handing out ice packs and nobody’s got like a twisted ankle or anything. It’s just the hand in those out just because it was so hot. So that’s always, that’s always funny, but yeah there was a, yeah and of course we this episode is seen through is kind of seen through the eyes of a Jewish evacuee in Eva, little Eva. So, and. It’s a yeah, it’s a very different a different feel to although still, you know, still has that Christmasy kind of warmth. And we had snow cannons on set. So, you know, it looks all festive and everything of that. But yeah, there’s certainly other things going on, like throughout the whole of season three.

Jace You mentioned Eva, and she is obsessed with The Wizard of Oz.

CLIP

Eva James and Tristan are funny. They remind me of the Tin Man and the Scarecrow; still waiting to go on their adventure.

James You’re lifting your elbow!

Tristan Play with fire, expect to get burned.

Jace Which begs the question to me, which is which? Who is the Tin Man, and who is the Scarecrow here?

Nicholas  The Scarecrow then would have to be Tristan, purely because no offense to Tristan, purely because he’s struggled with, you know, the exams and getting passed in Veterinary School. So we’d have to say Tristan is the Scarecrow and then the Tin Man, Tin Man for James, because he could probably use actually at times getting out of his head a little more and getting into his body a little more because he well, I think throughout these seasons, we always see James with a kind of a wrestling match between heart and head. And this season is no different. But I think sometimes, yeah, he can be too analytical or get stuck in, in his own in his own head with thoughts and really. Yeah. One of the best things for him would be to get out of his head. And so I would say, yeah, Tin Man James, Scarecrow Tris.

Jace I heard talk of a rather difficult guest star for this episode. Is it true that you and the cat did not get on very well?

Nicholas I don’t know, I don’t know about this cat, though, this cat, I think it was Jasper, well, she didn’t like me anyway. All we had to do is sit on a couch, the animal handler would place her down. And then I would pat her once and the animal handler would leave and she would just shoot off in any which direction that wasn’t near me. Yeah, I’m not sure, she was, she was quite lively anyway. Yeah she wasn’t, she wasn’t up for a sitting down and hanging out on the couch but the kitten was lovely.

Jace Tris does realize what Siegfried was trying to do, and he puts a stop to it and he prepares to leave for the service and the two men embrace when Tristan leaves for what he makes out to be that awfully big adventure that Eva alluded to earlier, he says, I’ll I’ll write to tell you all about it. Jim, does Tristan’s decision to follow through on this to to actually enlist and go change the way James sees this one time chancer?

Nicholas Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think he’s incredibly proud of Tristan in that moment, I think he you know, he has a lot of admiration for him. I think he has admiration for Tristan anyway for various different things. And, you know, his savviness and how social he is and how easy he is socially and things like that. And it’s lovely to see how they’ve they help one another through the seasons, and Tristan very much helped James towards the start. And then you saw those roles reversed and James would offer Tristan advice and was kind of helping Tristan out in some of those situations, and likewise with the veterinary stuff, you know, James would always be the lead. And then Tristan started to, you know, to help James out a little bit, you know, so they balance each other out wonderfully. So. But I think he yeah, he’s got such admiration for him. He’s really proud of him in that moment. But it’s no, you know, when he’s not looking through at this through rose tinted glasses either, like the big adventure, James isn’t, the big adventure because it’s a very real time. And of course, for our characters, we don’t know. You know, World War Two, as we knew it. Of course, they’re living it day by day as it kind of comes out. And people in this, it’s going to be over by Christmas and all this sort of stuff came out. But at the same time, World War One has gone before. Siegfried and Mrs. Hall were part of that and you learn all about that in school as well said so the realities of war aren’t lost on anyone and they aren’t lost on James. So when he sees his best friend, his brother in this madhouse go off, yes, it’s a real mixed bag of emotions, of pride, admiration, but also sadness. And just hoping that that he sees his best mate again.

Jace Alf Wight doesn’t end up fighting in the war due to a medical condition. Might things follow a similar suit for your James Herriot, despite his every intention of heading into battle?

Nicholas Yeah. I don’t know. Yeah, we know that James went off and then went through, went through training and everything, and it was pretty close to the getting up in the air. I think he was you know, he was, again, one of the top in his class when it came to actual flying of the planes, but then a medical condition, yeah, meant that he couldn’t, and he had to return. So TBC, don’t know, we know very little, the actors on the show, we know very little until we’re almost doing it. So we’ll see. I’m really excited to see as well how that will play out.

Jace And finally, series four of All Creatures Great and Small, is on tap, thankfully. What do you hope is in the cards for James and Helen moving forward? What’s your what’s your wish?

Nicholas More of the same. I mean, they’ve they now come together, they live together, they’re very much a team. And I think just the flourishing of that and it’s a new stage in the relationship, so a flourishing of that of them in this this new slightly more mature stage of their relationship. And we know around about this time as well that back in 1930s, 40s, is that families weren’t and children were not far off, you know, people getting married. So if there was the pitter-patter of tiny feet to come and that’s that could be quite cool as well. But who knows when that might be. Who knows. But I certainly know that that’s something that I would, you know, that I want for them in the future certainly.

Jace One does often lead to the other, so we shall see. Nicholas Ralph, thank you so very much.

Nicholas Thank you, cheers!

Jace And with that, we say goodbye to another gentle season of All Creatures Great and Small. But we’ll be back in the Yorkshire Dales before too long — as filming of season four of the series is well underway.

We turn next to the final season of another beloved MASTERPIECE title: Sanditon.

CLIP

Charlotte I’ve never seen so many visitors! Tom must be delighted.

Georgiana Charlotte! I am so happy you could come.

Charlotte Happiest of birthdays, Georgiana!

Georgiana And I am glad to see you, too, Mr. Starling.

Ralph It’s kind of you to include me on the invitation, Miss Lambe.

Georgiana How could I not, you’re about to marry my dearest friend?

Jace Charlotte Heywood returns to Sanditon newly engaged, as the seaside resort finally comes into its own as a major holiday destination.

And speaking of finales, this episode of MASTERPIECE Studio marks the final episode for my longtime producer Nick Anderen, as he bids farewell to MASTERPIECE. For six years, Nick has worked tirelessly to keep the narrative trains on the track, the interviews on time and the guests entertained with his kindergarten school photo on Zoom. He’s also, in that time, kept me entertained with his unerring sense of humor and kept me steady with his fortitude under pressure. From all of us at MASTERPIECE, we wish you the very, very best of luck, Nick!

MASTERPIECE Studio is hosted by me, Jace Lacob, produced by Nick Andersen, and edited by Robyn Bisette. Elisheba Ittoop is our sound designer. The executive producer of MASTERPIECE is Susanne Simpson.