1977: JAMES HERRIOT, WRITER and VET on Call | The Lively Arts | Writers and Wordsmiths | BBC Archive

Melvyn Bragg talks to James Herriot, the author behind All Creatures Great and Small and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (among many others), about his life as a vet and his successful writing career.
In the interview, we learn how Herriot writes while watching television, how he got his pseudonym from a Birmingham City goalkeeper, how his second career started late in life and why he keeps working as a vet and living in rural Yorkshire despite his huge success.
Clip taken from The Lively Arts: James Herriot - Portrait of a Bestseller, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Sunday 28 August, 1977.
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[@daviddelaney6757]

Wonderful man, the tv series ( original one of course!) was magic and I still watch it regularly.

[@hilaryepstein6013]

This was made about a year before the TV series which turned James Herriot from a hugely popular writer into a legendary name. For such a seemingly modest and private man I wonder what James Wight would have made of the huge tourist industry that has grown up around his alter ego.

[@MarkSlaterMusic]

I can still remember the theme music.

[@standenberg]

Such a great clip from a beautiful unspoilt area of England. The BBC series ACG&S was timeless & fantastic, and I also loved the books too. Indeed Alf Wight needed a pen-name to comply with professional rules banning advertising and chose Jim Herriot's name who was Birmingham City’s goalkeeper at that time. The ex-Scottish international is still going strong at nearly 85 👏🏼

[@alwilson3204]

Good for him!

[@CitiesForTheFuture2030]

I grew up on James Herriot books. I couldn't be a vet so I became a vet through his stories. I loved the tv series too although they didn't stick to the books as much as I thought they should have (the new series also doesn't stick to the books, which is a pity). Thank you James Herriot for sharing life through your stories, and to ALL the people that inspired them.

[@alwilson3204]

At least, the first three seasons of the original and far superior series did 'stick to the books' until Wight's written material went mostly dry. Still, the later episodes had to pass his professional inspection before airing.'

[@pit_stop77]

The TV series was one of my favourites growing up ❤

[@Just-random-history]

He knew my great grandfather and he based a character called the man from the ministry off him and they were good friends

[@fredo1070]

That's amazing, always thought James Herriot was a mythical figure like Long John Silver.

[@dumont_69]

I'm from the midwest of USA (Iowa). Half my family were farmers (although I grew up in the city). I read all these books in my 20s and I also watched the old BBC series. IO cannot tell you how tempting this life is (was, it's not he same anyhmore) for a city boy.

[@maureenogorman8740]

My mom loved his books.

[@Funeeman]

I loved his books. He was a lifelong Sunderland FC fan.

[@58Brando]

From his father he gained a passion for Sunderland Football Club and remained a lifelong fan. In 1992 he was named a Life President of the club.

[@daviddelaney6757]

Never knew that, cool. A good club too.

[@davidkmatthews]

The shots of the town @ 3:01 are from Market Place in Thirsk, which has hardly changed since 1977, though notably - and unsurprisingly - the local branch of NatWest has gone.

[@michaelrussell220]

I'd love to see the whole of this programme and not just a clip. Come on BBC, we pay our license, let us see what's ours.

[@rensha8635]

How I love these books. 📚 thank you Alfred White ❤ RIP

[@58Brando]

James Alfred Wight was a proud geordie.

[@MichaelBennett-jl7hl]

No. He is a Mackem from Sunderland.

[@brianquigley1940]

What is that accent? Where did he get it?

[@58Brando]

He was born in Sunderland, educated in Scotland.

[@brianquigley1940]

@@58Brando Thank you. That's a Sunderland accent? I've listened to other Sunderlanders but their accent is not the same (but that may because the vids I found were all recent). And I didn't really hear any Scotch tints to his accent. A mystery! 😊

[@amitbasu8159]

@@brianquigley1940 It's a middle class Glasgow accent, probably modified slightly from spending almost 40 years in North Yorkshire.

[@brianquigley1940]

@@amitbasu8159 Thanks.

[@jojojo8835]

@@brianquigley1940I can definitely hear the middle-class Scottish accent softened by time across the border, but not accustomed enough to the Sunderland accent to make it out here.

[@JJONNYREPP]

1977: JAMES HERRIOT, WRITER and VET on Call | The Lively Arts | Writers and Wordsmiths | BBC Archive 0809am 22.8.24 the walkers ad wherein the old scottish fella tried to get a deal on the crisp sale... created with this chap in mind, no doubt...

[@76ToneCrome]

The channel 5 series is terrible.

[@JJONNYREPP]

1977: JAMES HERRIOT, WRITER and VET on Call | The Lively Arts | Writers and Wordsmiths | BBC Archive 0806am 22.8.24 not as good as the original, granted, and that's the issue... you find yourself liking it due to the fact you think you have it like it. due to the original series being proper.

[@ufochris]

Well that's your opinion and I have mine . I think it's an excellent series. People that say it's not as good as the original series , but I say you really can't compare the two. Even though the new one is set at the same time it is still made for more modern audiences and most of those have never heard of the old series or the books. So think of those people . isn't it way better to have this new series out there that they will actually watch and like, than never watching the old one or reading the books? Also, think of all the crap that's on TV these days , that channel 5 show ( right after the Yorkshire vet ) is one of the best shows on TV right now!

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@ufochris 1977: JAMES HERRIOT, WRITER and VET on Call | The Lively Arts | Writers and Wordsmiths | BBC Archive 2223PM 22.8.24 i am sure, as it's got sod all to fill the schedules with, CH5 could air all the original shows, the film....the new take on matters, the debates, the mass debates..........

[@paulhease1007]

I agree. Compared to the wit and warmth of the original, it is cold and soul-less. Simply awful in all ways. Sam West's Siegfreid is an insult to Robert Hardy's magnum opus.

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@paulhease1007 ??????????