Before starting to film All Creatures Great and Small, Ralph did a tour with a Citizens Theatre/Wonder Fools production: 549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War.
[6][7] For his role as veterinary surgeon James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small, the actor required training in vet procedures for accuracy in the show.
[8] "Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing.
[9] Previously, Ralph had limited exposure to livestock: "I grew up in a small town in the Highlands of Scotland, and where we lived, there was our back garden, a fence, and then a field that was always full of cows and sheep... "[8] Much of the programme was filmed on location in all kinds of weather.
That did not apply to Nicholas Ralph when filming the 2020 series for Channel 5; the actor used his genuine Scottish accent.