Our take
The second Christmas special is the cosiest of them all: a Christmas Eve party, a dog in danger and a whole cast deciding that no one should eat Christmas lunch alone. There is less romance than the first, but more generosity, and the ending, a table full of neighbours in a house that had been shut up for the holidays, is exactly what Christmas television is for. Patricia Hodge's Mrs Pumphrey gets a lovely showcase.
What happens
Several months after their engagement, James and Helen discover they are expected at two Christmas lunches: Mrs Hall's at Skeldale and Jenny's at the Alderson farm. Tristan is home awaiting his exam results, which Mrs Hall has quietly pocketed to avoid a repeat of last year. Siegfried finds Mrs Pumphrey alone in her shut-up house with Tricki Woo seriously ill with gastroenteritis, and brings the dog back to Skeldale, but he will not eat. James, called out in his pyjamas, secretly gives the miserly farmer Kitson's dying ewe an anaesthetic to ease her end, and carves a log with a face for his family's Christmas tradition. At the Christmas Eve party James plays Father Christmas with Helen as his elf, they argue about where they will live, Diana steers Mrs Hall and Gerald under the mistletoe, and Tristan learns that Maggie is to marry someone else. When Helen hears that Kitson's ewe recovered, the vets try the same shot on Tricki Woo, and by morning he is eating. Tristan has passed with distinction, and James combines both lunches at Mrs Pumphrey's, so nobody spends Christmas alone. That evening James rings his parents and burns his log.
Can the kids watch it?
Rated PG by the BBFC because of upsetting scenes (a much-loved dog is very ill), so fine for families with a grown-up nearby.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Nicholas Ralph as James Herriot
- Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon
- Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson
- Anna Madeley as Mrs Hall
- Callum Woodhouse as Tristan Farnon
Guest stars
- Patricia Hodge as Mrs Pumphrey
- Tony Pitts as Richard Alderson
- Mollie Winnard as Maggie
- Dorothy Atkinson as Diana Brompton
- Will Thorp as Gerald Hammond