All Creatures Great and Small returns to TV tonight and fans will be heartbroken

All Creatures Great and Small is returning to TV screens, but the show will undoubtedly leave fans heartbroken.

The first series of All Creatures Great and Small will air on Channel 5 again, with the first episode airing on Monday, August 11, at 4 p.m.

First released in September 2020, All Creatures Great and Small has been adapted into five series, and now, fans can revisit the very beginning of the show.

Rewatching the first-ever episode, You've Got to Dream, will undoubtedly be nostalgic for fans, but it'll also be tainted with sadness, as Dame Diane Rigg will be seen playing Mrs Pumphrey again.

The late actress played the role in the first season of All Creatures Great and Small, but was replaced by Patricia Hodge in the second series.

Diane died in 2020 from lung cancer at the age of 92, making All Creatures Great and Small one of her final TV projects. She appeared in a total of two episodes.

Patricia then made her debut as Mrs Pumphrey during the second season, which first began airing in September 2021.

Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Nicholas Ralph, Callum Woodhouse, and Rachel Shenton make up All Creatures Great and Small's main cast. James Anthony-Rose joined the show in series four.

Set in Northern England in the 1930s and 40s, the show is based on books written by Alf Wight about a Yorkshire veterinary surgeon, which she published under the name James Herriot.

The show focuses on a trio of vets working in the Yorkshire Dales. Samuel West plays Siegfried Farnon, Nicholas Ralph portrays James Herriot, and Callum Woodhouse plays Tristan, Siegfried's younger brother.

The synopsis for the very first episode of All Creatures Great and Small reads: "Newly qualified veterinary surgeon James Herriot travels from his home in Glasgow to the Yorkshire village of Darrowby for a job interview at Siegfried Farnon's practice. Siegfried takes James to his first job treating an abscess in a gelding's hoof. James meets Helen Alderson while treating an injured calf and she urges him to stand up to Siegfried, who will respect him.

"The locals get James drunk and he mixes up a pair of cats while trying to feed them, resulting in Siegfried almost neutering the wrong one. James manages to prove himself after saving the lives of a cow and her calf, leading Siegfried to offer him a permanent job as his assistant."

All Creatures Great and Small is available to watch on 5