User Reviews

There is no doubt that series four is uneven compared to the excellent first three series of the "All Creatures Great and Small." This episode and "Only One Woof" both stand out as very good. James Grout as Granville Bennett is always a delight and provides great humor whenever he appears on a show. Robert Hardy as Siegfried Farnon and Peter Davison as his brother Tristan are both excellent. Granted there is some repetition of story lines from previous episodes, but it is not too intrusive. The only other review which exists at this point complains about the "recycling" of ideas from other episodes, but again it does not get in the way of the enjoyment of the show.

Siegfried is parsimonious. A cat is badly injured. A cheap turkey farmer.

This episode displays all the problems inherent when "All Creatures Great and Small" started up again after a hiatus of many years.

Most of the ideas in this episode are recycled. The segments about Siegfried's parsimony are straight out of an earlier series. The cat problem relates to James' first meeting of Granville Bennett (and, of course, James ties one on too tightly at Bennett's). And while the cheap farmer is an overused theme throughout the series, this one sets new records. He's worth seeing. Once.

Two new wrinkles: little James goes missing and Tristan has two ladies waiting for him to take them to a ball. I don't remember his doing that before but that doesn't mean he didn't.

I never liked Helen much. She was little-miss-perfect. But at least the old Helen could project a bit of heart. The new Helen is too hard-nosed.

Not a bad episode (any episode with James Grout's Bennett is good), but be aware echoes of episodes past are prevalent.