HBO, the American broadcaster behind Game of Thrones, is considering a remake of All Creatures Great and Small, the BBC drama which began in the 1970s about a vet in the Yorkshire Dales.
The original BBC1 version made a star of Christopher Timothy, who played vet James Herriot in a cast that also included Robert Hardy as his boss and future Doctor Who Peter Davison as his brother.
HBO, maker of shows such as True Detective, Boardwalk Empire and Veep, is said to have picked up the show following the boom in popularity of UK dramas in the US including Downton Abbey and Sherlock.
The original, which ran from 1978 to 1980 and later from 1988 to 1990, had about 13 million viewers at its peak.
A production insider told the Daily Mirror that the new version would be “sexier and glossier” but added: “So far it’s only in the planning stages but there are some great ideas being thrown around.”
It would not be the first time the series, based on the books by real life vet Alf Wight, has been revived, having been brought back by BBC1 for a prequel, Young James Herriot, in 2011.
However, the three-part series proved less enduring than the original.
All Creatures Great and Small told the story of young vet James Herriot rescuing farm animals and pets and was based in the fictional Yorkshire village of Darrowby.
For better or for worse – almost certainly the latter – it will always be remembered as the show in which lead characters spent at least part of a series with their hand up the back end of a cow.
