All Creatures Great and Small season 6 first-look images finally unveiled as Coronation Street stars joins cast
"This series will see Herriot's wonderful characters navigating the opportunities that a new world brings."
As we inch ever closer to the arrival of All Creatures Great and Small season 6, we have some first-look images of the cast, once again lead by Nicholas Ralph as James, Rachel Shenton as Helen, Samuel West as Siegfried, Callum Woodhouse as Tristan, and Anna Madeley as Mrs Hall.
But while you can expect plenty more "heartwarming human and animal tales", it won't be business as usual.
This time, "our beloved Skeldale gang are in a somewhat different situation as we join them in 1945, just as the war in Europe is coming to a close", reads the official synopsis.
"We arrive back in Darrowby to veterinary advancements, expanded families, and new faces as they all look ahead to a brighter and more peaceful future."
The main cast will also be joined in the six new episodes by Patricia Hodge as Mrs Pumphrey and her prized cherished Pekingese Tricki, Tony Pitts as Helen's dad Richard, and Imogen Clawson as Helen's younger sister Jenny, who must now "navigate the opportunities that a new world brings, a host of animals great and small, and, of course, each other".
They will appear alongside long-running guest stars Mollie Winnard, Conor Deane, Cat Simmons and Lamin Touray.
And as is tradition, you can also expect a number of new guest stars, including Coronation Street's Lucy-Jo Hudson, who you might also recognise from Hollyoaks and Wild at Heart.
Her character, Susan, can be seen looking rather alarmed while standing next to Siegfried in the below image.
Other new faces include Gaia Wise (The Dead of Winter, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim), Jonathan Hyde (The Brutalist, Titanic), Philip Martin Brown (Waterloo Road, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy) and Chris Gascoyne (The Feud, Patience), who many of you will also know from Coronation Street.
Speaking back in December about her hopes for Helen in season 6, Shenton said: "Now, we're seeing her as a fully fledged adult, and they [Helen, James and Jimmy] are a young family.
"Seeing a bit more of that would be great, because James has been absent [because of the war] until early on in this season."
Meanwhile, Ralph added: "Definitely, though, I think certainly because of that separation, having missed the first four months of little Jimmy’s life, getting back to them being a little family, a little unit, a little team, and seeing a lot more of that.
"Because we’ve missed that, the characters have missed that."
The show will also continue beyond season 6, with another Christmas special on its way. But the future of All Creatures beyond 2025 has yet to be confirmed.
All Creatures Great and Small seasons 1-5 are available to watch on My5. You can order James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small from Amazon.
If you're looking for something else to watch, visit our TV Guide or take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
