[4] He later recalled meeting the author, Alf Wight, who had "a soft, lilting Scottish accent – though I was told to keep my speech neutral to retain the universality of the part.

Writer Michael Russell sums up the character's composition thus: "He is capricious, cantankerous, whimsical, arbitrary, unreasonable, unpredictable, ill-tempered, extravagant, effusive, contradictory, etc., yet in the midst of all that, the most loyal and caring of friends.

"[2] According to Wight's son, James, the Siegfried character in the novels and TV series was considerably toned down, and that Sinclair was even more eccentric than the Herriot books portrayed.

"[2] Tristan likes nothing more than slipping out to the Drovers Arms for a pint or two of Best Yorkshire Bitter whenever the opportunity presents itself, one of several "intensely irritating habits" that annoy his brother.

Tristan's party piece is a rendition of "The Mad Conductor" (Benito Mussolini conducting the Neurasthenic Strings), which he performs in "Out of Practice" and "...The Healing Touch".

(Bellingham became pregnant with her youngest son, Robert, during series 5, so she was confined to bed scenes for several episodes, with a hole cut out of the mattress to hide her bump.

This was partly because Christopher Timothy was injured in a car accident on Boxing Day 1977 during a fortnight break between the recording of "Out of Practice" and "Nothing Like Experience" in the first series.

"[10] "As [series 2] started filming, Chris had managed to find a way of walking that concealed his limp, as long as he affected a kind of John Wayne swagger, something he grew more attached to over the next couple of years," added Davison.

"[2] "Normally after the seventh and final day of rehearsal, the cast and production team would travel to Birmingham to check into their hotel and digs," recalled assistant floor manager David Tilley.

"We moved All Creatures back to Pebble Mill for the sixth series because we found Pebble Mill a bit more flexible and amenable, whereas Television Centre was quite hard lined in terms of union regulations, so trying to just squeeze that extra bit of time out, or change the lunch hours, and get people to agree to that was a lot more achievable in Birmingham," explained production associate Tony Redston.

"[2] Soundman Alex Christison reminisced about getting the sound right on the show: "The main problem with All Creatures was that we are talking about the days before multi-mic radio microphones were available, so you couldn't just scatter personal mics around each actor and mix accordingly.

We'd done away with the old sync lead by then, thank God, which meant I wasn't joined up to the camera; the boom mic would be connected to my Nagra mixer and would be recorded separately to picture.

The continuity of the show followed the general arc of the books: James's arrival at Darrowby in 1937, his growing experience as a vet, his humorous attempts at romance with Helen, and their eventual marriage.

[8] Three years later, the programme was, indeed, revived, after Sellars was able to persuade Alf Wight to allow new scripts to be written around the existing characters, but not directly based on the Herriot books, with some story lines repeated from the first run.

Exterior shots were originally to be filmed in Derbyshire's Peak District, but Robert Hardy took offence to the plan and threatened to walk out of the producer's office.

[3] Some indoor scenes (including all those of the interior of Skeldale House) were shot at the BBC's Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham, a few months after the on-location portions.

This is demonstrated in the first series, when Christopher Timothy is seen walking normally during the scenes filmed in Yorkshire during the latter part of 1977, but by the time the studio shots take place, after his accident, his immobility is quite obvious.

"Studios aren't really like cow byres or horse stables or country farm houses," explained Hardy, "so one had to make believe a great deal in those early episodes.

"[2] "In the first series, we had large animals in the studio, with sets for farm barns and cow sheds, which were later filmed on location," explains designer David Crozier.

I think the exact moment it dawned on me that Yorkshire was a magical place was when I pulled my car off the unfenced road leading from Leyburn over Bellerby Moor to Grinton.

It was near the highest point, by a little stream, and I looked back over the swelling moorland to the great wooded valley of the River Swale where it curves on its approach to the town of Richmond.

"It was actually called Cringley House," explained Peter Davison, "and owned by Olive Turner and her husband Charles, who welcomed us with open arms from the first day of filming.

We were in the middle of filming the first All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special, and the previous night, over a thick gammon steak and eggs, in a pub in Middleham, I'd discussed my future choices with Chris Timothy.

The LP, entitled All Creatures Great and Small: The Original Music from the TV Series and Other Favourite Themes and released on Rampage Records in 1978, was produced by Larry Page and Adrian Kerridge.

Although he has not always stayed there, instead living with Caroline later in the series, Siegfried owns Skeldale House, and while he is happy—within reason—to pay for its upkeep and renovation, he is rarely seen getting his hands dirty outside the surgery.

Tristan, on the other hand, takes over the household duties from Mrs Hall in "Hair of the Dog" and "Home and Away", and James has to pick up the slack when Helen is out of action, on account of a slipped disc, in the first few episodes of series 5.

"For my own character of Tristan, I decided it would be fun if all I ever did in the surgery was clutch a mortar and pestle in case Siegfried appeared, aside from the usual smoking and reading 1937 copies of Health and Efficiency.

Christopher Timothy and Robert Hardy attended a service of thanksgiving for Alf Wight at York Minster on 20 October 1995, eight months after the author's death.

Also briefly joining them, and host Dale Winton, on the couch was Jack Watkinson, MRCVS, the Yorkshire vet with whom Timothy lived and worked for a week prior to the filming of the series.

As the 1983 Christmas Special had done, the interview included a tribute to Mary Hignett (Mrs Hall), who died shortly after the series' first run: "She was the warmest-hearted, most genial, most enchanting companion," said Hardy.