'All Creatures Great & Small's Regular Season Finale Is a Bittersweet "Glass Half Full"

This episode of All Creatures Great & Small was the original Season 5 finale in the U.K., but on this side of the pond, it's the penultimate episode with the Christmas Special airing next week. Siegfried, somewhat worse for wear after worming a 900# sow, returns to Skeldale House, where Audrey Hall tactfully asks if it is just mud – or worse. James and Mrs. Pumphrey hover over Pekinese Tricky Woo in the surgery, waiting for him to produce a cough. The dog doesn’t oblige, but James encourages her to return if worried.

Last week, Siegfried met the glamorous Lady of the Goats, Miss Grantley, but it doesn’t look likely that the romance will blossom. He calls and finds she’s not home and worries that the copy of her memoirs she lent him has disappeared. Tristan is lounging on the sofa with a crossword, and Siegfried immediately assumes, as usual, that he’s being lazy. In fact, he’s finished marking course papers and is taking a break despite Siegfried’s habitual disapproval. Siegfried finds Miss Grantley’s work on the floor next to the sofa, with a ring from a carelessly placed cuppa on the cover.

Helen and the baby return from the Victory Garden with a bumper crop of ripe strawberries and ration coupons for sugar from the neighbor; jam-making can officially begin. She discovers James unexpectedly asleep upstairs, but he wakes to join everyone in the kitchen, where Siegfried and Tristan bicker over whose turn it is to buy gas for the car and with whose coupons. Since Richard Carmody’s departure for a brilliant research career in London has left them short-handed, Siegfried persuades Tristan to accompany him on calls the next day. Helen, a notoriously bad cook, offers to help with the jam, but her offer is declined.

Tristan and Siegfried’s first call is to castrate a Shetland pony named Barley, owned by Molly (Olivia Page Marsh); as usual, the surgery occurs outside on a steep hillside. The brothers bicker about the chloroform, and the pony requires a considerable dose, but it’s uneventful otherwise. At Skeldale House, James deals with a full waiting room and is uncharacteristically light-hearted, cracking jokes and teasing his clients. Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki Woo return.Robert Burns's poetry. Then, he

She asks James if he’s well, and he responds with a recitation of poetry by Robert Burns, and then claims he’s too hot and starts removing his clothes. FortunaFortunately, Helen intervenes, although he doesn’t seem to recognize her, and Audrey interrupts the jam-making to send the clients home. Mrs. Pumphrey, realizing something is wrong, stays to help out, and Tricky Woo settles in with the other dogs. Helen finds James is running a fever and calls the doctor. Mrs. Pumphrey comments that it reminds her of the Spanish Flu, although Helen guesses it’s a repeat appearance of brucellosis.

James is delirious and reliving the worst memories of his RAF service, suffering guilt over his team’s deaths and sorrow for the only survivor, his navigator Bannerjee, who was seriously injured. He weeps in Helen’s arms as she struggles to bring down his fever. It’s the first time he’s ever shared his experiences, and it’s devastating. Unfortunately, he now remembers being rude to Mrs. Pumphrey.

Siegfried and Tristan visit their next client, Mr. Dobson (Jon Furlong), whose handsome new horse Algy needs to be examined. Amazingly, all goes well, and Mr. Dobson presents them with bottles of potent homemade elderberry wine to celebrate Tristan’s return home. However, Mr. Dobson tries to persuade Siegfried that the wine is not a gift but a part payment. As they’re about to leave, they notice Algy is suffering from Sweet Itch, an allergic reaction to an insect bite, and Tristan administers an antihistamine injection. 

Algy collapses, to everyone’s horror. Mr. Dobson seriously comments that the treatment “seems a bit drastic,” but Algy gets back on his feet, and the two veterinarians start the drive home. Predictably, they run out of gas. (Of course they do!)

Mrs. Pumphrey shows the kindness too often hidden by eccentric fantasies about Tricky Woo and pitches in to help. Audrey is making jam, Helen is busy taking care of James, and Mrs. Pumphrey cuddles Jimmy and takes phone calls. She admits to Audrey that she took on and enjoyed clerical tasks at her late husband’s mill during World War I when their labor force was greatly diminished. After the war, she wasn’t needed anymore, as happened to so many women in the labor force. Helen comes downstairs to the kitchen and cries as she announces James’s delirium has ended and he is recovering.

Siegfried and Tristan set off on the long walk home. It’s a hot day, but fortunately – or otherwise – they have elderberry wine to drink. Tristan suggests they go cross-country, and predictably, they get lost, with Siegfried’s shirt sleeve ripped half off as they negotiate some furze bushes, followed by a wade across a river. They argue – what else? – Siegfried is offended by Tristan’s light-hearted attitude toward the war, but he also admits he’s jealous because he doesn’t see his brother much. 

Tristan admits he would like to spend time together. Siegfried confesses he’s blown the relationship with Miss Grantley, having offered a critique of her manuscript in which he pointed out grammatical errors, followed by a “robust discussion.” Tristan is astonished, having seen women of a certain age find Siegfried irresistible, but his charm or his nerve failed. Somehow, they make it to Darrowby, arriving home bedraggled and drunk.

James finally discovers what has caused Tricky Woo’s discomfort and odd, erratic symptoms – a tiny sliver of chicken bone stuck between his teeth. In the kitchen, James, Helen, Mrs. Pumphrey, and Audrey are started by loud banging sounds outside and go into the yard to investigate. They find Siegfried, who has just boasted that he can take and pass any sobriety test ever invented, standing on one foot on an upturned bucket, a finger on his nose, while he recites Jabberwocky. Mrs. Pumphrey joins in with great enthusiasm. The episode ends with a beautiful lingering shot of the Dales in the fading light. Next week, in Episode 7, we’ll have an emotional Christmas as our Season Finale.

All Creatures Great & Small Season 5 airs/streams on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel weekly through mid-February (check your local listings). All seven episodes of Season 5 are available on PBS Passport for members to binge. Seasons 1-4 are streaming on most local PBS Passports. Season 6 is already greenlit and expected out in 2026.

(Want to know more about World War II rationing? Read this article from the Imperial War Museum.)