Ben Frow, the director of programs at Viacom’s Channel 5, has said he wants to commission a second season of its PBS Masterpiece co-production All Creatures Great And Small before the first has even aired.
Speaking at a Channel 5 upfronts event in London on Tuesday night, Frow said he watched the first episode of the Playground Entertainment show over the weekend and is prepared to go again.
“I watched the first episode on Saturday and I already want to commission series two,” he said. “There’s a whole new cast, but the warmth, the familiarity, the landscape, the beauty is all there.”
Channel 5’s drama is a new take on best-selling author James Herriot’s humorous adventures of a young country vet. The books were previously adapted into a group of films and TV series in the 1970s.
Newcomer Nicholas Ralph plays Herriot, starring opposite Samuel West (The Crown) as Siegfried Farnon, an eccentric veterinary surgeon who reluctantly hires the recently qualified Herriot.
All Creatures Great And Small is produced by Richard Burrell (Silent Witness). Executive producers are Colin Callender, and Melissa Gallant for Playground, Hugo Heppell for Screen Yorkshire and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece. Ben Vanstone (The Last Kingdom) is the lead writer and executive producer and Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) is lead director.