THE new adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, based on the much loved books of Yorkshire vet James Herriot hit the screens this week, and looks to have been an instant hit.

Filmed in and around Grassington, the series features both well known actors, such as Dame Diana Rigg , Samuel West and Nigel Havers, and newcomers, including Nicholas Ralph, who plays the newly qualified James Herriot.

Siegfried Farnon, owner of the veterinary practice in fictional Darrowby (Grassington), is played by Samuel West, while his housekeeper, Mrs Hall is played by Anna Madeley.

Siegfried’s errant and charismatic younger brother, Tristan, is played by Callum Woodhouse, while Rachel Shenton takes the role of Helen Alderson, an independent local farmer’s daughter who helps her father manage the family farm and looks after her younger sister.

Matthew Lewis, raised in Horsforth, and who appeared in the Harry Potter films, plays wealthy landowner, Hugh Hulton.

Brian Percival, lead director, said filming in the Dales had its problems, but that was the price for filming in a beautiful part of the world.

“One of the things we realised quite early on was that it takes an age to get anywhere.

“Obviously, we were strung out all over the Dales and we wanted to shoot in multiple locations. On a map it might only be six or seven miles away, but it’ll probably take two hours to get there and everything’s down single track roads so it’s not the easiest place to move around.

“And then there’s the weather, because it just changes and then it just changes again. I remember one day we’d shot about half of the days filming by 11am and then the heavens opened and we were completely soaked, everything was completely drenched and so anything we shot in the afternoon was going to be wet and anything we shot in the morning was already dry so we basically had to start again.

“So that’s one of the things that you just sort of have to get used to and have to think of a way around. That is the price to pay for filming in such a beautiful part of the world really.”

For Nicholas Ralph, it was his first trip to the Dales. “When I got on the train and I was travelling through The Dales, much like James was, your eyes are glued to the window because it is like a painting. It is beautiful and some of these locations we were lucky enough to shoot in, you could literally shoot in 360 degrees. Every time we would get dropped off at a new location we would look around and think how incredible it was.”

Produced by BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning production company Playground (Howards End, Wolf Hall), written by Ben Vanstone (The Last Kingdom) and directed by Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) All Creatures Great and Small goes out on Channel 5 on Tuesdays at 9pm.

There are currently just six episodes plus a Christmas special.