All Creatures Great and Small star promises James is in "much better place"
"It will always be in the back of his mind, but he's just once again being reminded about how fortunate he is."
Season 5 of All Creatures Great and Small proved to be an especially challenging time for James.
The vet was ruled unfit to serve in the military after contracting brucellosis, which meant that he was able to return home to his Skeldale House family and pick up where he left off.
But while there were obvious benefits to that, including being present to watch his son Jimmy turn one in this year's Christmas special, he was weighed down by guilt for abandoning his team – at least that's how he saw it – a feeling which intensified during a particularly unpleasant bout of ill health.
James been warned by a doctor that his fever may recur and that's exactly what happened one unassuming day, forcing Mrs Hall to close to surgery while Helen tended to her husband in bed.
Trapped in the throes of his delirium, he began hallucinating his former comrades, whose plane had previously been shot down by enemy fire during a training run, leading to catastrophic injury and death.
Upon seeing them again, or believing such a thing to be true, James was unable to contain his emotion and broke down, sobbing uncontrollably as Helen held him in her arms.
Read more:
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But thankfully, he has since "managed to deal with it to a certain degree", Nicholas Ralph told RadioTimes.com.
"He does bottle things up a little bit and tries to be very stoic about it and put his best foot forward. But at the same time, the brucellosis was almost like a blessing in disguise because he did have this delirious outpouring of emotion, which Helen saw, and then he managed to open up to her properly about it and deal with those things by talking it through.
"So he’s definitely in a much better place than he was. It will always be in the back of his mind, but he's just once again being reminded about how fortunate he is actually to be back because so many young men aren't.
"And to be there for little Jimmy on his first birthday, and to be there with all the family and friends, he’s incredibly grateful and just taking it all like it's brand new again."
The official synopsis for this year's Christmas special is as follows: "Beloved vet James Herriot is balancing the excitement of their son Jimmy’s first birthday with the festive season alongside Helen, while the capricious Siegfried Farnon is guiding Tristan in the right direction as he embarks on an important wartime mission.
"Meanwhile, Mrs Hall is busy preparing for Christmas when she is shaken by unexpected news."
The episode also features a "vibrant cast of farmers, animals, and townsfolk, set against the charming backdrop of 1940s Yorkshire".
All Creatures Great and Small seasons 1-5 are available to watch on My5. You can order James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small from Amazon.
If you're looking for something else to watch, visit our TV Guide or take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
