All Creatures Great and Small's Carmody announces departure as he makes decision

But at first, he was reluctant to accept the offer.

Carmody initially claimed that he felt guilty about spending his days swatting it up in a lab when others were risking their lives as part of the war effort. Rather than leaving for the capital, he argued he was best-placed in Darrowby, where his contribution would be performing his veterinary duties.

But the real reason, which was quickly picked up on by Mrs Hall, was his reluctance to leave his Skeldale House family, of whom he had grown exceptionally fond.

When Carmody was younger, his parents spent most of the year abroad, which means he grew up in boarding school. But when he arrived in Darrowby on his placement, he gained the family he'd never really had.

"It's been novel to put roots down somewhere," he said to Tristan when they were trapped inside a room in Mrs Pumphrey's house last week.

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But Tristan will soon be sleeping in his own bed once more when Carmody vacates it to claim his spot on the prestigious research programme.

"I wish I could take you all with me," he said after delivering the bittersweet news.

But as his surrogate family reminded him, he would "always have a place" at Skeldale – and it remains to be seen if he will return, either for the Christmas special, or as a permanent fixture in a later season.

Carmody arrived in season 4, back in October last year, to help ease Siegfried and James's workload following Tristan's exit. But his transition to life in the Yorkshire Dales was far from smooth sailing.

"He's a bit of a fish out of water," said actor James Anthony-Rose. "He would have everybody think that there isn't much that he can be taught. And this, of course, is the initiation process that he goes through... insofar as being taken down a peg or two and being put through his paces, and coming to the realisation that maybe he does have a lot to learn and not all the answers can be found in a book.

"His trajectory initially is coming to the realisation that he has to work on his people skills. And that's something that James and Mrs Hall and Helen – and Siegfried, surprisingly, to some extent – help him with."

And that they certainly did.

Godspeed, Richard Carmody. You will be missed.

All Creatures Great and Small seasons 1-4 are available to watch on My5. Season 5 is airing new episodes on Thursdays at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5. You can order James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small from Amazon.

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