Surviving Siegfried – As this episode of All Creatures Great and Small begins, Siegfried Farnon (Andy Sellers) is in Ypres, Belgium in 1918 during the war. Captain Farnon and his men find a horse that is in pain. It has deep lacerations and some muscle damage. When bombs drop around them, Siegfried tells Private Robert Turner (Sam Heron) not to panic because the front line is a hundred yards beyond the ridge. He tells Sergeant Maurice Oliver (Declan O’Connor) to see if they can get the horse patched up so they can take it with them. Siegfried yells for Turner to put his mask on only to be reminded that the animal always comes first. He checks on both of them moments later. In the present. Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley) finds Siegfried (Samuel West) reading an old letter from Maurice.

She tells him that Major Sebright Saunders called because he has a horse that needs seeing to. When he looks at the surgery, he complains that the state of the place is a bloody disgrace. James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) enters and tells Helen (Rachel Shenton) that he is exhausted after a long night. When Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) hears Siegfried yelling his name, he tells them he was never here. Siegfried confronts him with a bottle of hydrogen cyanide that was placed next to the antiseptic. He warns Tristan that his mismanagement of the dispensary could have caused the deaths of countless innocent animals. Once Tristan asks why it was his mistake, Siegfried says it usually is. Siegfried instructs him to go through the dispensary and get it into some type of order. He also complains about James cluttering the place up with TB testing forms.

Once things calm down, Mrs. Hall tells James that Mr. Cranford called about a dead cow. Helen reveals she needs to go up to the farm. Outside, James tells Mrs. Beck (Julie Edwards) they can’t spay her cat for less than that so she describes him as heartless. She suggests they call it ten shillings, but James says he can’t carry out a major operation for ten shillings. Mrs. Beck thought he would’ve done it for a poor widow woman like her. James says they usually reduce the rates for people who can’t afford to pay, but this is considered a luxury operation. She keeps pushing until James agrees to complete the operation for ten shillings. Mrs. Beck agrees and says he can collect her at one o’clock. As they drive away, Helen talks to James about being out on call for the second night in a roll.

James doesn’t think Tristan is ready to make night calls by himself. James believes she thinks he is too soft. She reminds him that Siegfried doesn’t do half the night calls he does. Helen encourages him to speak to Siegfried about sharing the load more equally. James says he will when the time is right before questioning if she has talked to her dad about the TB testing. He confesses he is struggling to convince the farmers to go along with it. Siegfried meets with Sebright (Michael Maloney) who asks if he heard about Sergeant Oliver. He calls it a crying shame. John Monkham (Steven Hartley) joins them as Siegfried learns more about the horse. They make George try to get onto the horse to show Siegfried what happens. Siegfried asks for the saddle to be removed before learning the horse was in Ireland previously.

Siegfried checks the horse and tells Sebright that he is absolutely wonderful. John admits the boat ride over from Ireland was a bit rough. Siegfried thinks it is psychological since horses transported overseas need particular care. Sebright argues he can’t afford to keep the horse if it can’t be ridden. He thought Siegfried could break him, but Siegfried suggests the horse is already broken. Their job is to put him back together again. He learns that the horse’s name is River. Siegfried admits he needs to get to know the patient if he has any hope of treating him. He tries to get the horse to look at him while explaining everything he does is driven by fear. Siegfried calms the horse briefly before it hits him. John says the animal is good for nothing but dog food now. Mr. Barge (Marc Pickering) visits Skeldale House to see Tristan who is busy sorting the dispensary.

Mrs. Hall asks if he should wait for Siegfried, but Tristan reminds her that his brother put him in charge of minding the stock. Tristan orders the regular stuff before asking if there is anything new to tempt them with. Mr. Barge shows him Cargill’s SoothAway which is a calming sedative for mollifying the most irascible of patients. He claims it can render agitated animals almost immediately amenable. Tristan ends up ordering two boxes. When James meets with Isaac Cranford (Mike Harding), he is told that lightning killed his cow last night, but James doesn’t remember a storm. James says the animal died in convulsions because you can see where its feet kicked in the grass. Still, he thinks a postmortem would be a good idea. Isaac knows he is trying to get farmers to sign up for the TB tests. James thinks it is in everyone’s best interest. Isaac says he might bring that up when he chairs the Farmers’ Union again.

He asks James to just sign the certificate so the insurance company will pay. James wants to take him to Mallock’s for a postmortem tomorrow to find out for sure. Helen tells her dad, Richard (Tony Pitts), about James struggling to get farmers to sign up for TB testing. He agrees to think about it. Siegfried continues working with River. Siegfried tells Sebright that the horse is deeply disturbed and tired so it wouldn’t be a good idea to try to get a saddle on him today. Undoing the damage will take time. Siegfried asks Sebright not to leave River alone tonight. Instead, he should put him in a larger stable with an amenable horse. Helen tells James that her father said he’d think about the TB testing. She tells him why it is hard for farmers and how they could lose their herd, but James reminds her it could lead to people dying.

Helen doesn’t want to argue about it. In a flashback, Siegfried tells Oliver that Vonolel will make a full physical recovery. Oliver was at the hospital where he found that Turner is already gone. Siegfried says he’ll write to his mother. Major Sebright Saunders (Jolyon Coy) arrives and tells Siegfried that Germany signed an Armistice so the war will be over soon. He asks Siegfried to travel with Orpheus personally to make sure no harm comes to him. Siegfried tells him they’ll need to resupply for the journey back to make sure the men and horses are prepared. Siegfried says they won’t because saving the horses would be an unnecessary cost. They’ve been offered to the Belgians and French and they’ve arranged for their horses to be picked up tomorrow. They’d rather not have to transport them alive.

Siegfried is told to order someone from his company to put them down if he doesn’t have the stomach for it. Nothing Siegfried says will change his mind. In the present, Mrs. Hall interrupts to give Siegfried dinner. She finds that he is looking at notes he made when he was in the Army Veterinary Corps. As for the Major’s horse, Siegfried hopes time will see him right. Later, he learns that Tristan meticulously sorted the items in the dispensary. He finds the new concoction. James complains to Tristan about getting awoken by another phone call last night. When Siegfried enters, Tristan tells him about the sedative and how it is supposed to calm even the most agitated animals. He thought it might come in handy with the Major’s horse. James is asked to do some extra farm visits since Siegfried will be working with River.

Helen suggests letting Tristan take on some of the work since James was out on call last night, but Tristan is going to have a full surgery. After Helen says it doesn’t seem fair, Siegfried gets mad and says he’ll run the practice as he sees fit. He storms out. James will speak to him this afternoon since he shouldn’t have spoken to Helen like that. Mrs. Hall suggests he has a lot on his plate. They talk about how he seems rather combustible now. Once everyone leaves, Mrs. Hall asks Jess if they see it too. James and Helen visit Jeff Mallock (Vic Reeves) who tells them Cranford is inside. He says there is stagnation in the lungs because he can always tell by the look in their eyes. Cranford continues arguing that it was lightning although Mallock doesn’t agree. Once Mallock pulls out the heart, James identifies verrucose endocarditis. Cranford insists the insurance company can afford to pay for this far better than he can and no one will know.

James refuses to cooperate with him. Siegfried returns to River and manages to put the saddle on him. He tries the injection that might calm the horse. James and Helen visit Mrs. Beck to pick up Georgina. On the way back, the cat ends up getting out of its box and attacking both of them. Siegfried tells the Major that they need to make riding normal again to teach River there is nothing to fear. He rides Pegasus and says he believes he is starting to understand the root cause of the trouble a little better. As River follows them out of the gate, Sebright tells Monkham he might’ve been wrong. James and Helen make it back to Skeldale House with scratches all over them. Tristan is told Georgina could probably do with one of the sedative injections, but he thinks he can handle it. Helen and James agree to stay to watch. Tristan takes the cat into the surgery to give it an injection only to be attacked as well.

Siegfried prepares to ride River. Sebright warns him that he’ll have to pay his own doctor bills if anything happens to him. River does well for a while until John signals for one of the men to scare it. Siegfried ends up thrown to the ground. When Sebright says he can’t keep a horse no man can ride, Siegfried asks if he makes any decision without considering a coin. Sebright offers to have Monkham take care of it, but Siegfried believes he deserves better than that. He’ll come back tomorrow. In a flashback, Oliver suggests letting the horses escape and run free. Siegfried believes it’d prolong their agony since they’d die on the road. Mrs. Hall returns from a walk with Gerald to find Siegfried injured. He shows her the letter from his old AVC friend, Maurice Oliver, from about a month ago. Siegfried says they went through some terrible things together and Maurice killed himself last week with barbiturates.

He has been reading it over and over to see if there was anything he might’ve missed. He seemed happy and even talked about his plans for the summer. Tristan admits the sedative didn’t work as they were led to believe. Helen suggests not saying anything to Siegfried and just pretending it worked. Cranford gets upset and tells others not to sign up for the TB testing. James reminds him the testing program only exists to help wipe out a dangerous disease that kills tens of thousands of people a year. When Richard enters, Cranford asks if he’ll have them up his place. Richard says he will. Helen tells James to hope to god he doesn’t have to put down half the cows in the distract. They talk about it more in the morning before Siegfried joins them. Siegfried gets an update about everything. He tries to apologize to Helen who says it is fine.

Siegfried admits he thought he’d be able to help the horse. He asks Tristan to drive him up there and bring the humane kit. James asks Helen to try to get the money out of Mrs. Beck. She doesn’t pay since there will be a follow-up appointment. Siegfried prepares to put down River. Sebright wants to leave, but Siegfried tells him to stay this time. In a flashback, Siegfried tries to deal with the horse himself. In the present, a worker enters and disturbs the hose. Siegfried reminds Sebright that none of this is the animal’s fault. He says Maurice needed help and no one was there to give it to him. He hopes they don’t need to repeat the mistakes and cruelties of the past. Siegfried is willing to be thrown off as many times as it takes because they need to build up his confidence and trust. Siegfried prepares to take him for another ride. He tells Tristan that others have risked and given far more. Siegfried rides River out the gate.

 

All Creatures Great And Small Review

It seems a lot of viewers took issue with this episode of All Creatures Great and Small for various reasons. In particular, some criticized Siegfried’s techniques and the horse that was used for this purpose. Nevertheless, it felt like a better episode than the previous one because it touched on raw emotion and took big risks that may not connect with all viewers.

Besides Siegfried’s emotional difficulties, the episode also had a few humorous scenes such as when Tristan was attacked by Mrs. Beck’s cat. Viewers are also starting to see how much Helen and James look out for each other. It was a risky episode that will probably work for a lot of viewers, but it is understandable that many won’t like the bleaker subject matter.

Personally, I enjoyed the episode and connected with what the episode was trying to do and the message it was trying to portray. The episode scores a 7.5 out of 10. Recaps of All Creatures Great and Small can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find our website beneficial? Consider supporting us by following this link.