History Series / AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall2020

** Downplayed again when [[spoiler: Helen goes into labor on Christmas Day. She does not give birth in anyplace resembling a manger, but it being Christmas, it takes longer for the midwife to arrive, on top of there being snow in the Dales.]]

* AwayInAManger: The trope is downplayed (it's in a farmhouse rather than a stable, and the mother is a dog) but unmistakeably present when James and Helen assist at the birth of puppies in the early hours of Christmas morning.

** [[spoiler: Tristan is absent for all of Series 4 due to being away at war. According to an official press release is [[TheBusCameBack set to return in Series 5]].]]

** Jenny, Helen's little sister. She takes a keen interest in veterinary work and sometimes takes it upon herself to help care for the convalescing animals.

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Mr Alderson (Helen's father) doesn't say much, but he can be pretty scary if you piss him off.

** Siegfried's late first wife is named 'Evelyn', a name she shares with the first wife Donald Sinclair lost to cancer in real life.

* AdaptationalAngstDowngrade: Wesley Binks' story is greatly changed from in the books. Here, instead of losing his dog and the last thing stopping him from embracing a criminal life, James saves it, getting Wesley a job on a farm instead with every sign he's been turned around.

* AdaptationExpansion: A lot of plot lines are added which didn't exist in the books. For instance, James' choice to euthanize a mortally injured horse is controversial here, with his reputation on the line until Siegfried's autopsy confirms his assessment, and he gets called "horse killer" by another farmer mockingly. Neither of these had occurred before -- rather, only the corrupt farm manager was angry about it, with Siegfried also backing up his decision immediately. Also, Helen never got engaged to anyone else, and their relationship proceeded far more smoothly (she only briefly dates anyone else before the two get married). Mrs. Hall's personal life never gets delved into at all, while here she's suffered past domestic abuse and is estranged from her son. This was both to [[RuleOfDrama add more drama]] and, much more importantly, give the women (specifically Mrs Hall and Helen) deeper and more well-rounded characterization.

* CallBack: When Tristan [[spoiler:goes off to his military training]] in the third Christmas episode, he stows away in one of the train's cargo cars, just as he had when he arrived to Darrowby in the first series.

** The townspeople are more diverse than in the 1978 series, which was almost entirely white.

* EekAMouse: Miss Harbottle is amusingly terrified of both Siegfried's pet rat Vonolel and of rodents in general. Of course, this being a veterinary show, Vonolel himself is adorable, well-behaved, and generally pleasant to be around, as indeed nearly all domestic rats are.

* ShipperOnDeck: Helen's younger sister Jenny is clearly taken with the idea of having James as a brother-in-law, and does what she can to help their courtship along.

* GameOfNerds: James being a football fan himself, he is rather baffled to discover that the rest of Skeldale House is absolutely cricket-mad. Both Siegfried and Tristan play, with Tristan in particular having been a champion cricketer at prep school, and Audrey Hall is such an enthusiast that she knows chapter and verse about the sport and does the scoring for the annual cricket match at Pumphrey Manor. James ''does'' come to appreciate the sport, however, and even steps in to play at the last minute.

* SpecialEditionTitle: All {{Christmas Episode}}s after the first feature one of these, complete with snow-covered landscapes and SnowySleighBells in the theme music.

* TricksterMentor: Siegfried is introduced this way, with Mrs Hall noting that he sets up all his assistants to fail so he'll have an excuse to get rid of them. After James passes muster, Siegfried transitions to being a SternTeacher.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Dorothy drops a hint that Audrey Hall is a survivor of DomesticAbuse, and Siegfried is revealed to have lost his wife Evelyn just four years prior to the start of the series, on top of serving in World War I.

Produced for Creator/ChannelFive, the show premiered in the UK in September 2020; four months later Creator/{{PBS}} began airing it in the US as part of ''Series/{{Masterpiece}}''. By January 2022, the show had been renewed through a fourth series.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Siegfried is notoriously terrible at dealing with other humans, but he is absolutely ''fantastic'' with animals.

* EurekaMoment: After seeing Mrs Pumphrey go right back to stuffing Tricki Woo the moment he's returned to her care, Siegfried decides that writing Tristan a cheque and sending him back to school will be the same thing, and he'd be better off being tutored by Siegfried. Tristan is... not thrilled about this.

* WeddingDay: James and Helen tie the knot in the Series 3 premiere.

* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Zig-zagged. Despite being from a working-class background himself -- albeit ''not'' a farming background -- James seems to have this attitude toward a farming couple who suggest several odd-sounding folk cures for their ailing cow. [[spoiler:He's forced to change his mind when one of those cures works perfectly.]]

* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Zig-zagged. Despite being from a working-class background himself – albeit ''not'' a farming background – James seems to have this attitude toward a farming couple who suggest several odd-sounding folk cures for their ailing cow. [[spoiler:He's forced to change his mind when one of those cures works perfectly.]]

* SceneryPorn: The Yorkshire Dales locations are as spectacular as you might expect – not for nothing is Yorkshire known as "God's country".

** Audrey Hall served in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Royal_Naval_Service Wrens]] during the First World War. Though she rarely shows the signs of it, quiet moments during the Series 2 finale – as she listens to radio reports of Prime Minister UsefulNotes/NevilleChamberlain[[note]]he of the entirely-too-hopeful "peace for our time" speech[[/note]] and his visit to Munich – show that the memories still haunt her.

** Major Sebright Saunders is a haughty prat both in the present and in the flashbacks to [=WWI=], but he's not unaffected by watching England build up to war again – when Siegfried asks if money is all that matters to him, Saunders replies that it's one of the only things that makes ''sense'' in a mad world. (Unfortunately, he's also cynical enough to use his knowledge of Siegfried's trauma to try and extort him.)

* SceneryPorn: The Yorkshire Dales locations are as spectacular as you might expect -- not for nothing is Yorkshire known as "God's country".

** Audrey Hall served in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Royal_Naval_Service Wrens]] during the First World War. Though she rarely shows the signs of it, quiet moments during the Series 2 finale--as she listens to radio reports of Prime Minister UsefulNotes/NevilleChamberlain[[note]]he of the entirely-too-hopeful "peace for our time" speech[[/note]] and his visit to Munich--show that the memories still haunt her.

** Major Sebright Saunders is a haughty prat both in the present and in the flashbacks to [=WWI=], but he's not unaffected by watching England build up to war again--when Siegfried asks if money is all that matters to him, Saunders replies that it's one of the only things that makes ''sense'' in a mad world. (Unfortunately, he's also cynical enough to use his knowledge of Siegfried's trauma to try and extort him.)

* ShirtlessScene: This isn't really that kind of show, but we do get to see James with his shirt off a couple of times -- once when he goes swimming in the river, and once in the middle of a lambing.

* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Zig-zagged. Despite being from a working-class background himself -- albeit ''not'' a farming background -- James seems to have this attitude toward a farming couple who suggest several odd-sounding folk cures for their ailing cow. [[spoiler:He's forced to change his mind when one of those cures works perfectly.]]

** Played for laughs in "The Last Man In", when Siegfried tells Mrs. Pumphrey to remove Tricki Woo's lead and let him do what comes naturally. The last shot of the episode shows the pooch running toward a neighbor's dog in slow motion.

* RageQuit: Siegfried, Tristan, and Mrs. Hall all have ''[[SideBet bets]]'' on just when in the day James will throw down his duties as all-purpose animal man at the village fete. Tristan thinks it'll be before noon, Siegfried thinks he'll hold out 'till 3:30, and Mrs. Hall believes he'll last the whole day. He just manages it but blows a gasket at the rule-pushers and sore losers nonetheless.