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BBC turned down All Creatures Great and Small over fears it would not 'speak to a younger audience'

All Creatures Great and Small - Ed Miller/Playground Television
All Creatures Great and Small - Ed Miller/Playground Television

When Channel 5 revived All Creatures Great and Small, it turned into one of the hits of the year.

The James Herriot story has drawn audiences of five million viewers and is the highest-rated original commission in the broadcaster’s history.

But that success could have belonged to the BBC, its producer has revealed. The corporation was given first refusal on the show but turned it down, fearing it would not appeal to prized 16-34-year-old viewers.

The BBC said it would only be prepared to make a pilot episode, despite being home to the original and much-loved adaptation that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. Channel 5 offered to make a full series, and the deal was done.

Colin Callender of Playground, the production company behind the remake, said of his discussions with the BBC: “They only wanted to do a pilot. They had concerns about whether it would speak to a younger audience and, I think, whether or not the show could emerge from the shadow of the first series.”

Callender said the show had in fact performed extremely well with younger viewers on Channel 5, as well as other demographics. “It is clear the show has struck a chord. It lives comfortably and respectfully alongside the original series.”

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Ben Frow, Channel 5’s director of programmes, said All Creatures Great and Small had chimed perfectly with lockdown.

“Who would have thought that when we launched All Creatures Great and Small it would be after six months of lockdown where people are suddenly fleeing the city to find more space in the country, and old-fashioned values are being looked at with nostalgia?” he said.

Channel 5’s viewership is moving upmarket, with a 16 per cent rise in the ABC1 audience since the beginning of lockdown.

Callender’s other shows include Wolf Hall, The White Queen and Howards End, all for the BBC. He said: “This is the first time I’ve worked with Channel 5 and I found the whole experience extremely rewarding.

“I have to say, I enjoyed the fact that the show is one of the first drama series that Channel 5 has done. It has meant the show taking on a significance for Channel 5 that it might not have done at another network. And it was fun to see people surprised to discover this show on Channel 5.”

The launch of the show was watched live by 3.3 million people, the channel’s biggest ratings since the return of The X-Files in 2016 and the highest ever for a homegrown production.

It starred Nicholas Ralph in his television debut as Herriot, a young vet in 1930s Yorkshire, and Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon, head of the rural practice.

Herriot was the pen name for James Alfred Wight, first published in 1970 and never out of print. The books have sold 60 million copies worldwide and were turned into a BBC series in 1978. Starring Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and Peter Davison, it ran until 1990.

Frow said he expected the show to perform well because Channel 5 is most popular with viewers in Yorkshire and Scotland. Other hits include Our Yorkshire Farm and The Yorkshire Vet.

While the BBC targets the 16-34 demographic, Frow has no plans to follow suit by making programmes aimed at them. Channel 5’s audience for that age group has gone up by four per cent in the past year, drawn to shows aimed at the general population.

Frow said: “What are your chances of hitting the bullseye given 16-34s really make their own decisions? I’m not sure they like being told, ‘This is for you.’

“And as soon as I do something for 16-34s I’m saying to everybody else, ‘This is not for you.’ Well, why would I do that? If I get a big, fat audience, I’ll probably get some nice upmarket viewers, lots of lovely ordinary viewers, some lovely old people, some young people. A little bit of everybody, fantastic, job done.”