'All Creatures Great & Small' Season 5 First Images Bring Back a Fan Favorite

The high heat may stick around for a while, but the calendar insists that summer is a'rollin' out as school parking lots refill with cars and TV networks start rolling out the first looks at their fall and winter programs. As always, Masterpiece plans to kick off 2025 with All Creatures Great & Small Season 5 alongside Miss Scarlet. Miss Scarlet put out the first images from Season 5 months ago as part of ejecting the Duke from the series and bringing on a new replacement. However, All Creatures has been playing things close to the vest, with the first images only just arriving along with the confirmation the show will air in the U.K. first, as it always does, debuting across the pond on Channel 5 in the autumn of 2024.

Of course, the big question All Creatures fans have is whether or not Seigfried's brother, Tristan Farnan, will return to the series for the fifth season. Played by Callum Woodhouse, Tristan is a high-spirited comic relief character, and his absence in Season 4 as he joined the war was part and parcel with how serious things had become at the home front. (In real life, Woodhouse was filming a movie alongside Heartstopper's Kit Conner.) Season 5 hinted that Tristan would be back sometime during the forthcoming season, though whether it was just a visit or a permanent return remains to be seen.

However, the show failed to reveal that Tristan would return with a new look, including a brand new set of mustaches that some will probably find dashing once they get used to it.*

(*Spoiler alert: I am not used to it, and I think he looks very silly.)

Here's the (completely useless) Season 5 synopsis:

The series will continue to bring the stories of James Herriot to life as we return to Darrowby to rejoin our unconventional much loved Skeldale Family and the colourful ensemble of farmers, animals and townsfolk living in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1940s.

Nicholas Ralph returns for Season 5 as vet James Herriot, with Rachel Shenton as his wife, Helen, and Samuel West as boss Siegfried Farnon. Anna Madeley returns as housekeeper Mrs. Hall, Patricia Hodge as Mrs Pumphrey, with her pampered Pekingese Tricki-Woo, and James Anthony-Rose also returns as Richard Carmody. Finally, after sitting out Season 4, Callum Woodhouse returns to his role as Tristan Farnon, Siegfried’s mischievous brother who has been serving in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. 

Season 5 episodes will be penned by Maxine Alderton, who returns to the series, along with new writers Debbie O’Malley (Payback), Matt Evans (A Town Called Malice), and Robin French (The Great). Directors Brian Percival and Andy Hay will return to helm episodes with new director Stewart Svaasand (Outlander). Yvonne Francas (Our Girl) also returns as Producer. This marks the first time series creator Ben Vanstone will not pen any of the series episodes.

All Creatures Great & Small Season 5 will debut in the U.K. in the fall of 2024 before arriving stateside on PBS in 2025. Season 6 is already greenlit and expected out in 2026.