Inside All Creatures Great and Small cast’s sweet off-screen friendships: from inside jokes to shared love of films

Fans often praise James and Helen’s romance, which lies at the heart of the popular Channel 5 drama. Sharing the secret to their on-screen chemistry with HELLO! at a press event ahead of series five, the actors said they know each other very well after years of working together. 

“We actually can’t stand each other so it’s like the best bit of acting!” Rachel joked.

“No, I think what happens after five years is that I know all of Nick’s jokes – I know they’re coming, and I thought they were hilarious for the first two seasons, not so much now! 

“No, it’s good. It’s just always so lovely to come back,” continued the actress. “And it’s just a little luxury to get to play the same character for five seasons because you get to deepen the relationships with all of the cast, and we spend so much time together. 

“We all know each other so well now and that can only help with what we’re trying to portray, which is people that have lived together for years. It honestly sounds so cheesy but we’re all really excited when we get to work together again and hang out. It’s good fun,” noted Rachel. 

Chiming in, Nicholas said: “It’s been half a decade, so it’s a long, long time and what an absolute treat it’s been. We’ve definitely got a shorthand sometimes and inside jokes, maybe to the annoyance of people around us or the directors!”

While Tristan might get on his housemates’ nerves from time to time at Skeldale, it’s safe to say his off-screen counterpart is well-loved among his co-stars.

Ahead of the latest season, Nicholas said the cast “missed” Callum during his absence in season four. “I’ve said it time and time again that the show missed Tristan, and we missed Callum,” he told Channel 5. “It’s just wonderful to have him back and always a treat to work with Callum. Any scenes we have together were brilliant and a lot of fun.

“Tristan, as a character, means so much to so many people within the house, so it was a joy having him back. Seeing him interact with Carmody is a lot of fun because they are both so different. And Callum is just a great laugh—a great guy to have around both on and off set. It was a real treat.”

Meanwhile, Anna told HELLO! and other press: “It was fabulous having Callum back on set. We missed him and he always knows what’s the best thing to eat on the lunch menu! I always took my advice from him.”

While Tristan and Carmody might not always see eye to eye, Callum and James got on like a house on fire while filming season five. 

Chatting to HELLO! and other press, James spoke about filming “a really nice sequence” at Pumphrey Manor, which sees the two vets “running around a large house together looking for a snake”.

“It was great to work with Callum,” said James. “He’s a fantastic actor. He’s so easy to work with. And so we had a lot of fun doing those scenes. I think we could sort of push a bit further the thing of not seeing eye to eye as characters because we knew that we got on in real life.”

Revealing the duo’s shared love of horror films, James continued: “We’re both sort of film nerds, specifically in regards to the genre of horror as well, which I know is a big thing for him. We felt very at ease around each other off-camera, so that meant that we could dance around each other a bit more as Carmody and Tristan, which was lovely.”

Ahead of season two, Samuel said it was a “delight” to work with Callum and explained how the two actors worked together to make their sibling bond believable. 

“It’s a delight to play with Callum,” he told PBS. “When we were cast, we thought, we’re good brothers, but Cal is so impossibly young for one so talented, and I’m enormously old, and we had to work out why there was this 19-year gap between us. We made it 19 years, which we could just about make believable. 

“All of that backstory has begun to feed into the series. We made a kind of timeline, only in our heads really, about how old our parents were and how much I had to look after you when you were young, and how I didn’t really like that very much. It’s all unspoken, but it feels real. And I think that’s really helped, I must say.”

Callum’s castmate’s love for him is clearly reciprocated. Back in 2022, Callum opened up about his family-like bond with his co-stars, who he described as his “best friends”. 

“All of them are my best friends,” he told Express.co.uk. “I remember doing The Durrells and sort of thinking this is like a long-lost family.

“Everyone said to me these jobs really don’t come around too often, you know where you just love everyone, so cherish it while you can. I did, and then immediately the next job I found myself on, it’s the exact same thing.

“I just love all those guys so much, you know we’re all in a WhatsApp group and we chat to each other regularly,” he said.

The star added that he and Nicholas regularly meet up for Sunday roasts in London, while he and Rachel enjoy dog walks together.