All Creatures Great and Small's Nicholas on Heartbreaking Goodbye to Co-star
All Creatures Great and Small, which premiered in 2020 and has featured three seasons so far, is yet another adaptation of the famous semi-autobiographical books written by the Yorkshire veterinarian Alf Wight under the pen name James Herriot.
Praised by both fans and critics, the show appears to be living up to the high standard established by its source material and previous adaptations.
Without a doubt, an important part of the show's success is the solid performance that Callum Woodhouse delivered as Tristan Farnon, one of the trio of countryside veterinarians whose story is at the center of the series.
Much to fans' disappointment, Woodhouse is now leaving the set, at least temporarily, for the story reasons — during World War II, his character Tristan volunteers to serve in the British Army (veterinary surgeons were exempt from conscription as regular soldiers) and is called out to war. His goodbye speech in the season three finale (Christmas special) was an exceptionally emotional moment for the characters, viewers, and actors alike.
Nicholas Ralph, who plays James Herriot, shared in an interview: 'It's a quite seismic change in this little world of Skeldale House. James is losing his drinking partner, his buddy, his best mate, his brother, and losing him under the certain circumstances that he's going to war.'
At the same time, Ralph noted that his character is proud of his friend's decision, as it demonstrates Tristan's bravery as well as his newfound independence from his older brother, Siegfried, on whose assistance Tristan constantly relied to get out of tight spots before.
Of course, unlike their characters, the actors know that nothing bad is going to happen to Tristan — besides getting saddled with a lot of that hard work he hates and treating animals that he never studied (like camels) in the Army's veterinary corps.
It seems unlikely that the new adaptation would dare to put the character at risk, so Tristan will probably return home as early as in season four.
Still, that goodbye scene sparked a great emotional response in the actors and fans, as Callum Woodhouse himself said that he had trouble rehearsing his speech because he couldn't go through it without crying.