All Creatures, Great & Small (C5, Thurs) is our best homegrown period drama. Without the budget or global reach that Bridgeton has, this often-poignant Channel 5 series, set in the sweeping beauty of the Yorkshire Dales knocked the spots of all the competition this week, and would surely have brought a tear to most people’s eyes with a classic homecoming story. Unlike film, directors for TV receive few accolades for TV shows.
But here in All Creatures, Brian Percival is the exception. When I saw his name on the opening credits I knew we were in for a treat as he's worked on such costume hits as Downton Abbey, and North & South. Originally from Liverpool and trained in Wrexham, he's an Emmy Award winner, too.
So punching well above its weight, All Creatures managed this series to attract fellow Emmy winner Jeremy Swift, from Ted Lasso. Here he played a dyed-in-the-wool Yorkshire type who's organising the air raid wardens in the village. A bit grumpy, a bit fastidious, a bit sexist – it is 1947 after all -- Mr Bosworth is a character who’s being set up for a minor fall.
His first mission was to prevent Mrs Hall from becoming a warden but he failed in the end. He grudgingly accepted his defeat. Mrs Hall will probably lead him from a burning building in the next episode.
He will reluctantly accept her kind offer of rescue. But the real drama was happening elsewhere at RAF Abingdon, where James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) was doing his bit as a pilot until he was rudely interru.