James Herriot
James Alfred "Jim" Herriot MRCVS
Played by: Nicholas Ralph
"Every problem has a solution. I just need to find it."
A freshly-graduated veterinary surgeon from Glasgow, James is earnest, hardworking, and brand-new to both practicing veterinary medicine and to the Dales themselves. Initially something of a Fish out of Water, he quickly falls in love with Yorkshire, its people, and specifically local farmer's daughter Helen Alderson.
- Always Lawful Good:
- James never fails to provide an honest account of an animal's condition, even if doing the opposite would make his life easier.
- Subverted in "On a Wing and a Prayer" when he sneaks off the RAF base without permission to see Helen, though he is caught before any serious misdemeanor could take place and intended to go back shortly.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: A rare male example. He will occasionally get muddy when dealing with cranky animals (such as the trial-by-angry-horse Siegfried puts him through in the first episode) but in general he's left looking much cleaner than you'd expect after doing procedures that should involve a lot of sweat and bodily fluids.
- City Mouse: James is initially out of his depth in the Yorkshire countryside, having spent his whole life in urban, industrial Glasgow with his only exposure to farm animals being through veterinary school.
- Determined Doctor: Until he's convinced that nothing more can be done, James will not rest until he has healed an animal.
- Dogged Nice Guy: For Helen. True to character, though, he mostly pines quietly from afar, remaining a supportive friend and waiting until several months after her not-wedding to ask her out on a date. There are a few times before then when he tries to confess his feelings, but he always pulls back at the last minute.
- Happily Married: He and Helen are deliriously happy together, with any conflict between them coming from outside their relationship rather than within it. Even during the times when they are briefly at odds, it's clear they still love each other unconditionally.
- Heroes Love Dogs: James loves dogs and they seem magnetically attracted to him. This endears him to Mrs Pumphrey because he gets along with Tricki Woo, leading her to make James the dog's Honorary Uncle.
- Honorary Uncle: To Tricki Woo, which he occasionally finds a bit awkward.
- Kindly Vet: The ur-example here, James always puts his patients first and would do anything to help them.
- Nice Guy: James is unfailingly kind and empathetic to farmers and other animal owners. He delivers bad news as kindly as he can, is quick to recognize when some underlying personal issue is making them even more stressed about an animal, and he can get very emotionally involved in cases where the owner is struggling too.
- Official Couple: Even if the narrative weren't telegraphing their feelings for each other to all and sundry, anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of either the books or the '70s adaptation will know that James and Helen are going to get married eventually. Fortunately, the show doesn't rely on this, instead taking the time to develop their relationship and show why they're so in love.
Siegfried Farnon
Siegfried Donald Farnon MRCVS
Played by: Samuel West
"I'm not used to putting personal niceties before good professional practice."
James' employer and Tristan's older brother, a wise, gifted, and experienced vet with a particular passion for equine medicine. Bombastic, eccentric, and something of a character, but nevertheless an invaluable mentor to James and Tristan.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Not in the sense of being less shouty or demanding (he's still very much both) but he does actually stop and explain why he's behaved the way he has after an episode of being in conflict with either James or Tristan, and he's far more open about how difficult his Promotion to Parent was.
- Age Lift: In the original books, Siegfried is only a few years older than James — i.e. in his late twenties. This version ages him up significantly, placing him in his early forties and making him a veteran of the Great War and a wise, older mentor figure to James and to his younger brother Tristan.note
- Better with Non-Human Company: Siegfried is notoriously terrible at dealing with other humans, but he is absolutely fantastic with animals.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Siegfried is eccentric, disorganized, bombastic, mercurial, frequently outrageously hypocritical, and generally terrible at dealing with the human race. But as a veterinarian, he is absolutely superb — steady, wise, knowledgeable, experienced, utterly professional, and always gentle and soothing with his patients. For all his quirks, he is also seen more than once advising James on some aspect of veterinary medicine as a wise mentor figure, offering sage advice and timeless wisdom about the exigencies of the profession and showing true compassion to his young colleague.
- Determined Doctor: The moment an animal is hurt, sick, or in pain, it's goodbye bombastic, mercurial eccentric and hello unswerving, unwavering, utterly professional and absolutely awesome veterinary surgeon who will stop at nothing to heal and/or comfort his patients.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: If you get on Siegfried's wrong side, he will yell at you. But he'll also get over it pretty quickly, and try either to make up for it or pretend that nothing happened.
- Hypocritical Humor: If Siegfried rakes James and/or Tristan over the coals for some perceived shortcoming, you can bet that he'll be caught out doing it himself later on in the episode.
- Implied Love Interest: Though Siegfried dates other women over the course of the show, his true emotional partner and confidante is Audrey Hall, in whom he seems to have complete trust and who brings out his softest side. She is also the only person he will listen to when he's being particularly bombastic and mercurial. Also, Audrey shares her first name with the second wife of the real-life Siegfried Farnon (Donald Sinclair). Unsurprisingly, there is plenty of Ship Tease between the two.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Though Siegfried isn't always kind in his delivery, he regularly hammers home hard truths about the exigencies of veterinary medicine, particularly since many of the locals rely on their animals for their own livelihood. Sometimes, compassion and idealism have to lose out against sheer, brutal pragmatism.
- Kindly Vet: He is notoriously terrible with people, but with animals he is amazing. He's not only an incredibly gifted veterinarian, but has a real way with the animals he treats, showing them nothing but tenderness.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Siegfried is perpetually irritable, but he has a good heart and genuinely wants the best for everyone.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Siegfried and Mrs Hall bicker like they've been married for decades, but obviously care for each other a great deal and trust each other implicitly.
- No Badass to His Valet: Siegfried intimidates just about everybody — except Audrey Hall, who is totally unfazed by even his most bombastic and mercurial moods and is the only person he will always listen to.
- Pet the Dog: Played literally straight with the notoriously grumpy Siegfried, whose soft side is seen always with animals and almost never anywhere else. There is also his relationship with Audrey Hall, with whom Siegfried has more moments of vulnerability and tenderness than with Tristan and James combined.
- Promotion to Parent: Siegfried has taken responsibility of Tristan, paying for his schooling and trying to guide him toward a career in veterinary medicine.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: When trying to relate his love of horses to the haughty General Ransom, Siegfried speaks of serving in Belgium during World War One and how he's haunted by his experiences on the battlefield, having to put down large numbers of horses because it was cheaper than treating them or shipping them back home.
- Stern Teacher: Siegfried guides James and Tristan as they begin their careers, but is very serious and spare with praise.
- Team Dad: Siegfried takes on this role to James and Tristan, with his firm-but-fair disciplinary approach balanced by Audrey Hall as the Team Mum.
- Tragic Backstory: Siegfried's backstory has three tragic elements to it:
- His parents died when Siegfried was a young man and his brother, Tristan, was a boy. Siegfried's father made him promise that he'd bring Tristan up - something which Siegfried takes incredibly seriously. Consequently, Siegfried takes Tristan's failings as evidence of his own failure to keep his promise to his father.
- Siegfried served as an army vet in World War I. He saw a colleague sacrifice himself to save a horse. He then had to euthanise goodness-knows-how-many horses, as his superiors decided that transporting the horses back to England would be too expensive. Years later, one of his friends from war commits suicide, apparently having never recovered from the trauma of the war.
- Siegfried's wife, Evelyn, died four years before the start of Series 1 from what is later revealed to be cancer. Siegfried isn't prone to moping, but occasional discussions with Tristan or Mrs Hall bring out how much he loved his wife and misses her still. One of his lasting regrets is that even though Evelyn wanted a child, he wasn't ready for parenthood until it was too late.
- Trickster Mentor: 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 Stern Teacher.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He kind of serves as this to Tristan, who just wants to make his older brother/surrogate father proud of him.
- Working Through the Cold: Attempts to do this in the sixth episode of season one and of course fails miserably. Audrey eventually takes matters into her own hands.Siegfried: [after an unexpectedly long nap] What on Earth was in that concotion you gave me?Audrey: Whisky. Ginger, honey, garlic, thyme... but mainly whisky.
Audrey Hall
Audrey Hall
Played by: Anna Madeley
"Don't dwell on what's done when there's things need doing."
The housekeeper at Skeldale House, and also much more than that title implies. She is Siegfried's closest friend and confidante (and the only person able to manage him), as well as a warm, kind mother figure to James and Tristan and an honorary aunt to Helen and Jenny Alderson.
- Age Lift: In the original books, Mrs Hall — who is a minor background presence, if that — is in her sixties. In this adaptation, however, she is of an age with Siegfried; like him she is a veteran of the Great War, serving in the Wrens
as a young woman.note - Ascended Extra: Though she wasn't exactly an extra, Mrs Hall had a fairly minor presence in both the original books and the classic series. In this adaptation, she's far more fleshed out, with her own fully-developed characterization and backstory; she has an estranged son named Edward, served in the Wrens during the First World War, and is implied to have been a victim of domestic abuse from her husband.
- Deadpan Snarker: As sweet as she is, her sarcasm — when she deploys it — is absolutely withering. Her usual target is Siegfried, who gives as good as he gets.
- Death Glare: Hers is so incredibly lethal that it can cow Siegfried into doing something he doesn't want to do, and is the only force so far seen that is actually able to do so.
- Disowned Parent: Mrs Hall has an unseen son who broke off contact with her after she refused to take the fall for him Stealing from the Till at her previous job. He finally appears in Season 3 episode named after him, "Edward", where the two start to clear the air after a brief reunion at a train station and Edward tells her he loves her.
- Game of Nerds: Audrey is a cricket enthusiast who knows chapter and verse about the game and does the scoring for the annual match at Pumphrey Manor.
- The Heart: As the resident Team Mum of Skeldale's ad hoc family. She is not only a caring mother figure to James and Tristan, but Siegfried's sounding board and chief source of support, and it's made fairly clear that all of them would be lost without her.Dorothy: [to Siegfried] Audrey has a big heart, and she opens it up to everyone — even those who don't always deserve it. Look out for her for me.
- Hidden Depths: She also turns out to be a crack shot with a gun, and uses her knowledge to get the better of a carnival stall owner.Siegfried: [visibly impressed] Where on Earth did you learn to shoot like that?Audrey: What'd you think we did in the Wrens? Embroidery?
- Hired Help as Family: Audrey is far more than just Skeldale's housekeeper. Not only is she a surrogate mother figure to Tristan and James, but she is also, by all appearances, the closest friend Siegfried has in the world and the only person he will truly confide in without reservation.
- Honorary Aunt: She's "Auntie Audrey" to young Jenny Alderson.
- Implied Love Interest: Though Siegfried dates other women over the course of the show, it is Audrey who is his true emotional partner and confidante; he seems to have complete trust in her, and she brings out his softest side. She is also the only person he will listen to when he's being particularly bombastic and mercurial. Unsurprisingly, there is plenty of Ship Tease between the two.
- Kindly Housekeeper: She is unfailingly kind, but she can also be a Servile Snarker when someone (usually Siegfried) deserves it.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Siegfried and Mrs Hall bicker like they've been married for decades, but obviously care for each other a great deal and trust each other implicitly.
- Named by the Adaptation: Unlike the original books or the classic series, she actually is given a first name in this adaptation: Audrey.note
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: She served in the Wrens during the First World War. Though she rarely shows the signs of it, quiet moments in the series 2 finale as she listens to reports of Prime Minister Chamberlain'snote visit to Munich show that the memories still haunt her.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Audrey is warm, sweet, soft-spoken, kind, motherly, feminine, a divine cook by all indications — and is also a crack shot with a gun, served in the Wrens in World War I, and is the only person capable of managing Siegfried, who obeys her orders when he won't listen to anyone else.
- Team Mum: In this series, Audrey is of the same generation as Siegfried, to whom she serves as a confidante and sounding board, while also mothering James and Tristan with warmth and kindness.
- Tragic Backstory:
- Mrs Hall's husband was a good man, and they were in love when they married. However, the War changed him and turned him into an alcoholic and abuser, forcing Mrs. Hall to leave him.
- Mrs. Hall's son stole from her previous employer and she refused to lie to the Police for him. This broke down the relationship with her son, and he never forgave her for it until they met again in Season 3.
- True Blue Femininity: Audrey wears a lot of blue, which befits her sweet, gentle nature and role as The Heart of Skeldale House.
Tristan Farnon
Tristan Sebastian Farnon MRCVS
Played by: Callum Woodhouse
"The one advantage of knowing nothing is that anything seems possible."
Siegfried's much younger brother, a rakish veterinary student who likes girls, the pub, and helping to heal animals — not always in that order — but has struggled with applying himself academically enough to pass his veterinary school exams.
- Achievements in Ignorance: He figures out a way to save Strawberry the cow by coming at it with a completely fresh perspective, looking strictly at the anatomy with no knowledge of the fact that "common wisdom" says it can't be done. His method works.
- Affectionate Nickname: He is the only one who calls James "Jim", which fits their close, brotherly relationship.
- Always Someone Better: He starts to chafe as Siegfried's employee in the third season and questions why he's only ever followed the path that was laid out for him by his easy-to-disappoint brother. It culminates in him joining the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, very much against Siegfried's wishes.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Siegfried outright tells Mrs Hall that Tristan is smarter than him; a major reason he's so frustrated is because he knows Tristan would be great if he just applied himself.
- Character Development: As in the source material, Tristan gradually begins to take his studies and the work more seriously as time goes on, becoming more reliable.
- The Charmer: Tristan's chief characteristic is his affable charm. It earns him a series of casual flings (although as Maggie notes, girls see him as someone to have fun with, not a serious relationship) as well as a prodigious number of cakes from grateful pet owners who visit the surgery.
- Hidden Depths: Tristan's first impression when he turns up is of a lazy wastrel who's more interested in flirting than veterinary work. He does prove soon that he can be insightful when he's paying attention, is the one to work out how to perform surgery on a cow's neck abscess without killing her, and gives a shy boy advice on how to be more confident in the Christmas episode (along with volunteering to spend the rest of the party with a sick donkey).
- Like Brother and Sister: Tristan has known and been friends with Helen for years, and their sibling-like relationship only deepens once she begins seeing James.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: When he's angry at Siegfried, his passive-aggressive retaliation will last for days. e.g., after the debacle with his exam results, he pointedly refuses to give assistance with any vet work because he's just not qualified.
- Put on a Bus: Tristan is absent in Series 4 due to serving in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. However, official reports say he is due to return in Series 5.
- Shipper on Deck: Tristan eagerly encourages romantic prospects for everyone at Skeldale House, encouraging James' crush on Helen even before she broke up with Hugh, as well as pushing Siegfried to find a new romantic partner and encouraging Mrs. Hall to pursue the kindly Gerald.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: A main motivation for Tristan is wanting his older brother Siegfried's approval; their prickly and emotionally dysfunctional relationship is a source of resentment for him.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He plays up the exertion of doing large-animal work under the logic that if he makes it look easy, the farmers won't think they're getting their money's worth (and they also tend to offer refreshments out of sympathy).
Helen Alderson
Helen Rosemary Herriot (née Alderson)
Played by: Rachel Shenton
"Once [Yorkshire] gets in your bones, it's hard to get out."
The daughter of a local farmer, a competent, practical young woman who develops a friendship and, ultimately, romance with James.
- Deadpan Snarker: Helen has a gift for snark and witty comebacks, which comes in useful when around Siegfried. She's more than willing to stand up to him, and he seems to respect her for it.Siegfried: Oscar Wilde considered sarcasm the lowest form of wit.Helen: But the highest form of intelligence.Siegfried: [slight smile] I'll see you later.
- Good with Numbers: Helen did the accounting for her family's farm. She's much quicker to understand Siegfried's "system" of accounting than James and also proves indispensable in helping James deal with the confusing array of forms for the government's tuberculosis testing program.James: We make a good team!Helen: [arch grin] What he means is he couldn't do it without me.
- Happily Married: She and James are deliriously happy together, with any conflict between them coming from outside their relationship rather than within it. Even during the times when they are briefly at odds, it's clear they still love each other unconditionally.
- I Miss Mom: Helen has more memories of her mother than Jenny does, and actively misses her at some points, especially when she is pregnant.
- Like Brother and Sister: She's known and been friends with Tristan for years before she ever meets James, and the two become even closer once she joins the Skeldale family.
- Official Couple: Even if the narrative weren't telegraphing their feelings for each other to all and sundry, anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of either the books or the '70s adaptation will know that James and Helen are going to get married eventually. Fortunately, the show doesn't rely on this, instead taking the time to develop their relationship and show why they're so in love.
- Promotion to Parent: Helen is trying to stand in as Jenny's mother since their own died young, which Jenny resents. They start getting along better when Mrs. Hall advises Helen that in spite of losing a mother, Jenny still needs Helen to be the big sister she was before.
- Runaway Bride: Helen gets to the altar with Hugh before calling it off. This happens off-screen, however; we learn about it the same way James does, after the event.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She falls in love with James for his kindness, earnest goodness, and dedication to the animals he treats.
- Stiff Upper Lip: Helen is normally quite emotionally reserved, epitomising the saying "keep calm and carry on". This makes her occasional outpourings of emotion (such as when she defends James in "Home Truths" and "The Perfect Christmas") even more meaningful.
- Wacky Cravings: Helen gets a taste for pickled eggs when she is pregnant in Series 4, which is what clues Mrs. Hall in to her condition.
Richard Carmody
Richard Carmody
Played by: James Anthony-Rose
"I intend to serve by doing my duty to our farmers. We’re a reserved occupation for a reason."
A studious new trainee vet with a specialty in equine care who comes to Skeldale House in Series 4 to work under James.
- Book Smart: Carmody is the top scholar in his year and has an incredible memory for things he has read. However, he over-relies on his books at first, struggles with interacting with the owners, and is slow to learn how to drive, specifically saying it's nothing like the books say.
- Bookworm: Richard can be found with his nose stuck in a book most of the time, so much so that Siegfried and James ban him from using books for a time so he can learn to actually interact with the animals and owners. That said, his encyclopedic knowledge comes in handy.
- Contrasting Replacement Character: While Tristan was a lazy but charismatic student who got on Siegfried's nerves, Richard is studious to a fault but terrible with people and endears himself to Siegfried right away.
- Dr. Jerk: Downplayed, but he is initially very blunt with the animal owners. He is particularly harsh to the Crabtree family when he tells them their "rookie mistake" of not keeping their newly purchased cow, now sick, separate from the herd, not realizing how upsetting the situation is for them. He is usually apologetic after his error is pointed out, and is taken down a peg.
- Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: Played with. While Carmody wasn't this growing up, since his parents didn't observe the holiday, he becomes this in Darrowby. Justified, since he mentions being jealous of the kids who celebrated Christmas when he was younger.
- Fish out of Water: Even moreso than James when he first arrived, Richard, being an academic with little sentimental attachment to animals, is at odds with the sentimental Darrowby folk and, to a lesser extent, with the others in Skeldale. His bowtie subtly marks his as an outsider. The others eventually become friendly to him while he learns to adjust.
- Geek Physique: According to Word of St. Paul, part of the reason Carmody chooses to serve as a vet during the war is because he knows he wouldn't make it in the army.
- Hands-Off Parenting: Discussed. Richard's parents put him in boarding school from an early age, and he went right to college from there, implying he spent most of his childhood away from them.
- Hollywood Atheist: Subverted. Richard is an atheist raised by atheist parents. But, while he is awkward around Christmas traditions at first, he is touched by how welcoming everyone is during the Christmas episode, is the one to bring up Jesus as the reason for the season, and even does a decent job as Santa when Siegfried forces him into it.
- Motor Mouth: He can go on a run about facts he's learned about a certain topic, even if they are no longer relevant to the conversation or are insensitive. This ends up helping him when learning to drive since the act of thinking of things to say makes him stop overthinking about driving.
- No Social Skills: Even Siegfried tells him he has no tact with how often he bluntly puts his foot in his mouth, and also has a tendency to take slang literally.
