All Creatures Great and Small (franchise) "James Herriot", and are set in the fictional town of "Darrowby", based on a combination of Thirsk, Richmond, Leyburn and Middleham.. In the books James Herriot work with fellow veterinary surgeons, Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, based on real-life counterparts, "Donald Sinclair" and his brother "Brian Sinclair" respectively. Wight also used the name "Helen Alderson" for his wife, Joan Danbury. In America the books were collected as pairs into omnibus volumes, as the publisher felt they were too short to publish independently. The title chosen for the first book in the series "All Creatures Great and Small" (and subsequently one of
All Creatures Great and Small (franchise) the movies and television series) was taken from the hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful". According to Herriot's son, it was his sister who suggested the title, initially proposing "Ill Creatures Great and Small". "All Creatures Great and Small" is based on first two novels, "If Only They Could Talk" (1970) and "It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet" (1972), and was given the same title as the 1972 US compilation volume of these two novels, was released in 1975. It was directed by Claude Whatham, and written by Hugh Whitemore, and starred Simon Ward as James Herriot and Anthony Hopkins