James Herriot vet, Peter Wright worked with Alf Wight at Skeldale House; years later, his work was featured on a multi-season television series on Channel 5 (UK), "The Yorkshire Vet". In his books, Wight calls the town in which Herriot lives and works Darrowby, a composite of Thirsk, Richmond, Leyburn and Middleham. He also renamed Donald Sinclair and his brother Brian Sinclair as Siegfried and Tristan Farnon respectively, and used the name "Helen Alderson" for Joan Danbury. Contrary to popular belief, Wight's books are only partially autobiographical, with many of the stories being only loosely based on real events or people. Wight's
All Creatures Great and Small (film) All Creatures Great and Small (film) All Creatures Great and Small is a British film from 1975 (copyrighted in 1974), directed by Claude Whatham and starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins as the Yorkshire vets James Herriot and Siegfried Farnon. It is based on James Herriot's 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. It is the first of a series of movies and television series based on Herriot's work. A sequel, somewhat confusingly titled