Well, of course, we all know the animals are incidental in this screen prequel to TV's popular memoirs of vet James Herriot: what really matters is the Yorkshire folk whose emotions are brought out from behind those gruff exteriors by what happens to their creatures' comfort. Inevitably episodic, and fairly sentimental, this has warm-hearted performances by Simon Ward as the young Herriot, Lisa Harrow as his future wife Helen and Anthony Hopkins as local vet Siegfried Farnon, before he went on to win an Oscar for silencing lambs.

James Herriot is a vet in Yorkshire, England, during the 1930s. He is assigned to the practice of Siegfried Farnon, who—together with his mischievous brother Tristan—already have a successful business. James undergoes a variety of adventures during his work, which are just as often caused by the characters of the county, including the Farnon brothers, as the animals in his care.