Young James Herriot

Plot

The plot is based on the early life and studies of veterinary surgeon James Herriot, known for his autobiographical books which were the basis for the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small. The series is set in the 1930s at the Glasgow Veterinary College, where Herriot (Iain De Caestecker) has arrived to train as a veterinary surgeon. It focuses on his relationship with his new-found friends Emma 'Whirly' Tyson (Amy Manson) and Rob McAloon (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). They lodge together at the home of Elspeth Munro (Natasha Little).

Also featured are Jenny Muirhead (Joanna Vanderham), who is the only other female student at the college, and lecturers Professor Gunnell (Gary Lewis) and Professor Richie (Tony Curran). Topics which features in the story lines include the subjugation of women, the treatment of students by Professor Gunnell, and the rise of the fascist movement in the UK.

Production

Announced in July 2010 with the title Young James, the series was devised by Johnny Byrne, a scriptwriter on All Creatures Great and Small, and consultant producer Kate Croft. Byrne, who died in 2008 during the development of the series, knew Alf Wight (who wrote under the pen name Herriot) and his passion and experience convinced Croft that a series could be successful:

Through his friendship with Alf he also came to know this wonderful story of how Alf became a vet. This was an amazing story and when he first told me – this was about 10 years ago – I knew it had to be a TV series.

The series was produced by Koco Drama, a Shed Media company, and written by their executives Ann McManus and Eileen Gallagher. The team had access to the Herriot archive and the archives of the Glasgow Veterinary College, including the diaries and case notes he kept during his student years. It was produced with the cooperation of Wight's family; they met de Caestecker, who found them "very helpful", and he had dinner with Wight's son Jim. Jim Wight said he thinks his father would have approved of the series and that it's "a joy for me to see his student days recreated".

Reception

The first episode gained an audience of 6.73 million, with the second and third episodes attracting 5.08 million and 4.99 million viewers respectively.

Christopher Hooton in Metro found that it failed to leave a lasting impression, saying it was "an insubstantial, mildly-pleasing period soap". He later said that "the last thing we needed was a bloated, plodding period drama", and he found the lighting "more appropriate to a sombre Dickens adaptation than tales of a charming young Scot bumbling his way through veterinary college". Jasper Rees for The Arts Desk also discusses the production design, and said: "Basically, they've made a children's drama and slotted it after the watershed. The writing goes exceptionally easy on nuance and texture." It reminded Michael Hogan, writing in The Daily Telegraph, "of French and Saunders's cruelly accurate costume parody, The House of Idiot, where characters crowbarred in clumsy nods to 'the period' just to remind forgetful viewers". Despite the "odd amusing moment", he felt it "rather let down the well-loved original".

At the 2012 British Academy Scotland Awards, Iain de Caestecker and Michael Keillor were nominated for the television actor and director awards respectively.

In April 2012 the BBC confirmed the series would not return.

DVD release

The first series was released in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2012. In the U.S. and Canada on 4 September 2012.