The cast of All Creatures Great and Small are currently in production on the upcoming third season of the Channel 5 show, but they took time out this weekend to stop by the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival.
Ahead of their Q&A, RadioTimes.com spoke exclusively with the cast, to get a sense of just how the next season will play out, with all of them highlighting the impact that the Second World War will have on the characters.
Anna Madeley, who plays Audrey Hall, noted that as the season moves into 1939 it will explore “how each character responds to the idea that war could be coming” and acts as “an exploration of the generations, of how it affects them differently.”
Helen Alderson actress Rachel Shenton meanwhile hinted that there’s a “realness” to season 3 and said that “it definitely feels there’s a shift. Particularly towards the end of the series there’s a definite shift and sort of the stakes are higher and things feel a big more serious than we’ve perhaps experienced before.”
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Meanwhile, Tristan Farnon star Callum Woodhouse said that “the shadow of war is going to be sort of cast over the whole season” but added that “It’s still all these guys who were trying to sort of keep themselves going and keep themselves happy in the way that they do, you know heading to the pub and things like that.
“We’re still helping animals and saving animals, there’s still a very human part to the show.”
James Herriot actor Nicholas Ralph said that the season would still be “full of love, laughter, all the good things that people enjoy and a lot of a warmth as well. So it will be kind of bittersweet perhaps.”
“We can’t ignore the war at all, you know that is a massive thing looming over all these characters,” Ralph continued. “And it will affect them all in various different ways as something like that would even kind of beneath the surface in some cases, which is really interesting. Of course lots of lovely, warm moments as well. And really funny, it’s really funny this season as well.”
The series was renewed for seasons 3 and 4 as well as two more Christmas specials in January, with season 3 set to arrive on our screens this year.
Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton.
You can order James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small from Amazon.
All Creatures Great and Small airs on PBS Masterpiece in the US and Channel 5 in the UK. Take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage, or check out what else is on with our TV Guide.
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