All Creatures Great and Small stars talk James and Helen’s future in series six

All Creatures Great and Small stars Nicholas Ralph and Rachel Shenton have revealed what they’d like to see in the upcoming sixth season of the show. 

The actors star as James and Helen Herriot in the popular Channel 5 drama, which follows the adventures of veterinary surgeon James and his pals at Skeldale House in the Yorkshire Dales.

In the latest season, which is set during World War Two, viewers watched as James returned home to Helen and their new baby, Jimmy, from RAF training after contracting brucellosis, which made him unfit to serve. 

Speaking about the upcoming season, Rachel said she’d like to see more of James and Helen navigating their young family following the vet’s return to Darrowby. “I like that we’ve got to play these characters for such a long time that you get to see them at such major milestones in their life, and so she’s a had a child, got married and now moved out of her home,” the actress told RadioTimes.com.

“Now, we’re seeing her as a fully-fledged adult, and they’re a young family navigating that. I guess seeing a bit more of that would be great, because James has been absent until early on in this season,” she added. 

Ralph agreed, adding: “Definitely, though, I think certainly because of that separation and the war, having missed the first four months of little Jimmy’s life, I think, yeah, kind of getting back to them being a little family, a little unit, a little team, and seeing a lot more of that.

© Channel 5/Helen Williams

“Because we’ve missed that, the characters have missed that, so it would be nice to see them come back.”

It comes after Samuel West shared an update on his dad, actor Timothy West’s potential cameo in the show. The actor revealed that while Timothy isn’t scheduled to appear in the drama, if he were to guest-star, he’d have to play a character related to Siegfried due to the striking resemblance between the two actors. 

© Helen Williams / Playground Television / Channel 5 Television

When asked if he’d had any luck securing his father a part on the show, Samuel told HELLO! and other press: “No, not yet. 

“I think James Bolam played the part he would have been up for last year, beautifully. And they’re roughly the same age,” he continued, referring to James’s series four character, Mr. Dakin, whose elderly cow is a patient of Siegfried’s. 

Samuel went on to say that while “there aren’t that many roles for 90-year-old actors”, the “problem” is that he and his dad look “increasingly like each other“. 

© Channel 5/Jay Brooks

“I don’t really believe in the genetic inheritability of talent, so much as the genetic inheritability of tiny little eyes that disappear when you smile,” the Slow Horses star joked, adding: “So unless we were playing two people who were actually related, I think it would be quite confusing.”