8.8/10104 votesLoading...#1 - Big Steps and Little 'Uns
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 4/5/1980
England is at war and the time has come for James and Siegfried to join their military units. Their last day at the practice is a busy one and James is repeatedly called out when he had hopes to spend a last, quiet evening at home with Helen. Siegfried surprises James with a small gift. Mrs. Hall also has a surprise announcement for everyone and Tristan receives shocking news from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Director: Terence Dudley
Writer: N/A
8.6/10129 votesLoading...#2 - Merry Gentlemen
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 12/24/1978
Christmas at Skeldale House can be a formidable undertaking, what with sick foals, overfed dogs and a skeleton guarding Siegfried's secret hoard of goodies.
Director: Christopher Barry
Writer: Anthony Steven
8.5/10107 votesLoading...#3 - Breath of Life
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 4/14/1978
Siegfried discovers that a gift given in good faith has brought the deadly foot-and-mouth disease to the dales, and James accidentally hits upon a "sleep cure" for Mrs. Flaxton's poodle.
Director: Terence Dudley
Writer: Anthony Steven
8.5/1064 votesLoading...#4 - Promises to Keep
Season 7 Episode 12 - Aired 11/17/1990
It's raining cats - literally - when Tristan has to face the terrors of an enormous sow, Our Gracie, and her litter of piglets, who are due to be castrated. When the farm cats take a fancy to the anesthetic-stuffed offcuts, they start to doze off in some very unlikely places. Mrs. Clarke, a very determined old lady, is struggling to keep her farm running until she can hand it over to her young granddaughter, Mary. But she is reaching the stage when she can no longer handle the pressures, even with her elder granddaughter, Katherine to help -- and Katherine is planning to pursue a nursing career in Africa...
Director: Steve Goldie
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.2/10110 votesLoading...#5 - Golden Lads and Girls
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 2/19/1978
James' temper is fraying fast -- what with two car accidents in the space of a week, an inauspicious meeting with Helen's family and his rival still lurking around Helen like a "big glossy spider".
Director: Terence Dudley
Writer: Brian Finch
8.2/10105 votesLoading...#6 - Advice and Consent
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 2/26/1978
The fortunes of the hard-working Dalby family look set to dwindle even further until almost by accident James discovers the cause of their herd's illness. However, James still needs a push start on other fronts, and Siegfried and Tristan decide to remedy matters with their own expert advice.
Director: Peter Moffatt
Writer: Brian Finch
8.2/10102 votesLoading...#7 - Practice Makes Perfect
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 4/7/1978
Having failed his exams, Tristan fears his brother's wrath. In a desperate effort to reform, Tristan shuns cigarettes, alcohol and women and adopts a rigorous routine of dawn runs and hard work.
Director: Christopher Baker
Writer: Johnny Byrne
- 8.2/10102 votesLoading...
#8 - Cats and Dogs
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1978
The waiting room is packed at the Darrowby practice, but Siegfried seems more focused on catching his hard-drinking brother asleep on the job.
Director: Peter Moffatt
Writer: Brian Finch
- 8.2/1089 votesLoading...
#9 - Fair Means and Fowl
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1978
Nerves are frayed as Tristan's encounter with an "exploding" bullock leads to a lawsuit, and Siegfried's venture in guinea raising runs foul. Meanwhile, James is sent to assist "on of the biggest boozers in the business."
Director: Robert Tronson
Writer: Anthony Steven
8.2/1090 votesLoading...#10 - The Beauty of the Beast
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1978
As the tractor threatens to do away with a way of life in the Dales, James battles to save a dying shire horse.
Director: Peter Moffatt
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.2/1082 votesLoading...#11 - Charity Begins at Home
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 1/5/1980
Siegfried bumps into Mr. Beresford, the manager of the local bank whose dog behaves badly in the car. Tristan woos the lovely Marjorie Simpson and Siegfried meets Sarah Raworth. James treats the elderly Mr. Bailey's dog who has developed a bad case of bronchitis and Siegfried criticizes James when he waives the fee. Siegfried, however, has trouble following his own advice. Tristan rescues a severely injured cat and then convinces James to treat him rather than put him down. Helen promptly adopts him and nurses him back to good health but is devastated when she learns the cat belongs to the Gibbons family. Everyone celebrates Tristan's birthday.
Director: Richard Bramall
Writer: Terence Dudley
- 8.2/1062 votesLoading...
#12 - A New Chapter
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 10/8/1988
The Herriots prepare to move to Rowangarth and another emergency with Granville Bennett.
Director: Jeremy Summers
Writer: Alfred Shaughnessy
- 8.2/1067 votesLoading...
#13 - The Prodigal Returns
Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 9/1/1990
Life at the Yorkshire veterinary practice continues to challenge the partners, whether by neglected animals or tight-fisted farmers. There are domestic challenges for Tristan, however, when James and Helen play a practical joke with a "Welcome Home" card from an old female admirer. Life is never simple when true love or the demon drink rule Tristan's life, and he is soon in trouble with Siegfried. A new housekeeper, Mrs. Alton, has been recruited by Siegfried to keep a watchful eye on Tristan, who, dispatched to tie up the details of her employment, is delighted to discover that Mrs. Alton is a rather attractive young widow. But this is not the Mrs. Alton that Siegfried had in mind.
Director: Michael Brayshaw
Writer: Christopher Penfold
- 8.2/1064 votesLoading...
#14 - Old Dogs, New Tricks
Season 7 Episode 10 - Aired 11/3/1990
Siegfried takes a close friend to task for wasting his own talents as a veterinary surgeon. Ewan Ross -- "the best horse man north of the Humber" has let his career slide gently into the whiskey bottle after the death of his wife. But Siegfried is determined to make use of his considerable skills. A valuable racehorse with a strangulated hernia could provide Siegfried with not only a way of striking back at "vets in Bentleys", but also putting Ewan on the straight and narrow. James, meanwhile, is strangely reluctant to take on responsibility for Mrs. Pumphrey's beloved Tricky-Woo when she announces that she is off to France. But Siegfried caves in under the persuasive skills of Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricky-Woo moves into Skeldale.
Director: Richard Martin
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.1/10128 votesLoading...#15 - It Takes All Kinds
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/22/1978
Sigfried declares that the business is in shambles financially, and his solution is Miss Harbottle, a meticulous secretary who rules the cash box with an iron hand. Amid a relentless succession of new faces - many gruff, some eccentric - James meets the lovely Helen Alderson.
Director: Christopher Baker
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.1/10106 votesLoading...#16 - The Last Furlong
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 3/5/1978
The sport of kings beckons James and Siegfried to the Broughton Races — James in search of a dead cert to raise forty pounds for a Mediterranean honeymoon, and Siegfried in pursuit of a dream job at the track.
Director: Christopher Baker
Writer: Anthony Steven
- 8.1/1095 votesLoading...
#17 - Attendant Problems
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1978
The return of lambing season brings a boost to Siegfried's spirits, but James, laid up in the surgery, is reminded of the harsher realities of a vet's life.
Director: Christopher Barry
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.1/1093 votesLoading...#18 - Judgment Day
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/1978
The Darrowby Show is a much-anticipated event for the whole community, except for the duty vet. This mixed honor falls to James this year.
Director: Christopher Barry
Writer: Brian Finch
8.1/1091 votesLoading...#19 - Pride of Possession
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1978
The atmosphere is tense as James prepares to perform groundbreaking surgery. Meanwhile, Siegfried wrestles with a disinterested prize bull, and Tristan's hormones run riot over Darrowby's merry widow.
Director: Christopher Barry
Writer: Anthony Steven
8.1/1081 votesLoading...#20 - If Wishes Were Horses
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 1/26/1980
Tristan has had a rather late night and Siegfried takes him to task over his bad habits. Tristan announces that he has a steady girlfriend, Deborah Mount and will reform his wild ways. Turns out Deborah's father doesn't know anything about the relationship and may not approve. When he does hear of it, he has serious doubts about Tristan's character. Tristan doesn't help his case with his silly pranks. James has several encounters with a street urchin, Wesley Binks, whom he'd earlier caught stealing. James nonetheless helps Wesley out when his dog contracts distemper. Siegfried reacts badly when the Weeting brothers tell him they are off to join the military.
Director: Richard Bramall
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.1/1078 votesLoading...#21 - Pig in the Middle
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 2/2/1980
James and Helen are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and Tristan suggests to James that they go to the Harlequin, a modest restaurant that opened recently. It turns out to be anything but and is in fact one of the poshest restaurants in the area. Siegfried starts seeing Margery Egerton. Tristan, now a free man since being forbidden to see Miss Mount, sets his sights on previous conquests. Siegfried and Tristan ask James to arbitrate when they both want the same evening off. James has to pay several visits to Mr. Bailes whose dog seems to take great delight in scaring the wits out of him.
Director: Michael Hayes
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1060 votesLoading...
#22 - Blood and Water
Season 6 Episode 5 - Aired 9/30/1989
James meets a pair of elderly twins. Oliver and Roland Strong, rabbit breeder and prize cabbage-grower respectively, have divided the cottage left to them by their mother and have not spoken to each other for 50 years. Now Oliver is convinced that Roland has poisoned one of his rabbits.
Director: Michael Brayshaw
Writer: Brian Finch
- 8.1/1063 votesLoading...
#23 - The Best Time
Season 6 Episode 12 - Aired 11/18/1989
Siegfried is perplexed when the usually-caring Grandma Clarke snubs her neighbor, Franco Pedretti, who is the new shepherd on the estate where she is a tenant farmer. It soon becomes apparent that she blames Franco for the untimely death of her son in Italy during the war and the subsequent death of his wife in childbirth.
Director: Tony Virgo
Writer: Johnny Byrne
8.0/10156 votesLoading...#24 - Dog Days
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/15/1978
James finds that long hours and rough conditions can make a veterinary work a dog's life, but for some dogs, like Mrs. Pumphrey's Tricki-Wu, have it so well that they can afford to spread the wealth.
Director: Peter Moffatt
Writer: Brian Finch
8.0/10120 votesLoading...#25 - Nothing Like Experience
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 2/12/1978
James musters the courage to visit Helen after she's seen him at his worst. Siegfried resorts to sorcery to aid a gypsy's ailing pony, and a wild ghost chase solves the mystery of the shrouded figure haunting Raine Abbey.
Director: Christopher Baker
Writer: Johnny Byrne
The Best Episodes of All Creatures Great and Small
Every episode of All Creatures Great and Small ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of All Creatures Great and Small!
All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series, based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the...
Genres:ComedyDrama
Network:BBC One
Best Episodes Summary
"Big Steps and Little 'Uns" is the best rated episode of "All Creatures Great and Small". It scored 8.8/10 based on 104 votes. Directed by Terence Dudley and written by N/A, it aired on 4/5/1980. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Merry Gentlemen".