ALL Creatures Great and Small was a huge TV hit in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several of its 90 episodes reaching 20m viewers.
Even the recent Channel 5 remake, broadcast in a very different television era, has been watched by more than four million people.
The series was first screened in 1978 and was based on the work of Thirsk vet Alf Wight, who published the first of his eight books in 1970.
Alf said that in his mind, the fictional town of Darrowby, where the three vets worked, was an amalgam of Thirsk, Richmond, Leyburn and Middleham.
However, for filming purposes, Cringley House in Askrigg was chosen to act as Skeldale House, the home of Siegried Farnon (played by Robert Hardy), Tristan Farnon (Peter Davison) and James Herriot (Christopher Timothy).
In fact, with life imitating art, Cringley House has now been renamed Skeldale House and has become Herriot-themed holiday apartments.
Following our recent articles on Askrigg, Brian Wastell kindly sent in this picture showing the show being filmed outside Skeldale House.
But all of the Yorkshire Dales were the attractive backdrop to the show, which ran until 1990.
On August 5, 1983, Dave Allison encountered the filmcrew and the stars at work in Richmond, on the steep bank from the market place down to the green. Fortunately, he had a camera on him to record the action…
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