It's Wings for All at Christmas in 'All Creatures Great & Small'

Initially the show’s Christmas Special, the finale episode of All Creatures Great & Small Season 4, begins at James’s training camp, where a kestrel hovers and a Spitfire lands soon after. James, still earthbound, watches. His fellow trainees are subdued; a plane was lost last night, friends gone, and James, who also knew them, is shocked. He doesn’t even complain when addressed as “old man.” Now in his mid-twenties, married, and about to be a dad, James doesn’t argue with his teenage fellow trainees. He has plans to meet up with Helen for dinner that night after weeks of being apart, and it’s all he can think of.

Helen: I’ll give you the business end.

But when he calls Skeldale House, it seems their date may be canceled by the threat of a winter storm and Helen’s advanced pregnancy. But he’s able to share some good news with her. Cradling a badge (his “wings”) in his hands, he tells her he has some sewing for her since he’s passed his exams and will go on to bomber training in preparation for flying missions. Siegfried gets on to the extension to tell them he thinks allowing Helen to drive in the snow is a bad idea. She argues that she’s had a few random cramps, but she’s scared, and she needs to see James. A line of airmen, waiting to use the phone, builds up behind him.