All Creatures Great and Small (TV series) that be wanted to cast the role. Sellars, instead, asked Timothy if he would accept the role of Tristan Farnon. "I had a wife, I had children, I had a mortgage to pay, and I wasn't working. So I said, 'No. It's Herriot or nothing.'" Timothy put everything on the line. "I got home one night, at about 9 o'clock. My wife was washing up in the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and she said, without turning round, 'You've got the Herriot part.'" Timothy also stated that, after all of the roles had been cast except that of Herriot,
All Creatures Great and Small (TV series) is played by a different actress in each of the series' runs: Carol Drinkwater originally, then Lynda Bellingham for the revival. The supporting cast, both recurring and one-offs, numbers over 600, most of whom appear as farmers or clients of the surgery. The leading role is played by Christopher Timothy. Simon Ward (who had played the part in the 1975 film), John Alderton (who had replaced Ward in the sequel, "It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet") and Richard Beckinsale all turned down the role. Bill Sellars had wanted to give the role to Timothy from the outset, but the powers