This feature-length dramatization of James Herriot's best-seller was issued by EMI as a big-screen theatrical release in England, but debuted on NBC as a telemovie in the United States, February 4, 1975. It stars Simon Ward as Herriot in his early days as a veterinarian. The story picks up in 1937, with Herriot's first assignment as assistant to eccentric Yorkshire vet Siegfried Farnon (Anthony Hopkins). The film's highlight is the strenuous delivery of a newborn colt; its most poignant moment is the mercy killing of a seriously ill dog. In between "cases," Herriot courts pretty farmer's daughter Helen (Lisa Farrow). The film eventually spawned a television series. ~


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 pseudonym James Herriot. In 1977, the BBC tasked producer Bill Sellars with the creation of a television series from Herriot's first two novels, If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, using the title of the 1975 film adaptation All Creatures Great and Small.
Filming began in the autumn of 1977, and ninety episodes were aired over two three-year runs. The first run (1978 to 1980) was based directly on Herriot's books; the second (1988 to 1990) was filmed with original scripts.