NARRATOR: Across Yorkshire's moors and dales,
the world's most famous vet set the benchmark for animal care.
And James Herriot's legacy lives on.
COWS MOO
His former trainee, Peter Wright...
All my life, I've enjoyed doing this.
...has been a Yorkshire vet for over 40 years.
I'm getting the impression you wouldn't take me on
as an assistant, is that right? Probably!
Peter's old partner, Julian Norton...
With a gloved hand and lubricated finger, I'm well equipped.
...now runs two practices. Come on, young man!
One of them in the town where Herriot worked,
surrounded by the North Yorkshire landscape he loved.
Look at that. What a sheep!
And in the foothills of the Pennines...
I'm armed and ready.
...a new generation of town and country vets...
This is the closest tojames Bond I think I'm ever getting.
...also uphold the Herriot ethos.
Another clay in paradise.
The teams are united...
We can probably knock this off ourselves, do you think? Pffft!
...never taking their eyes off the ball...
Howzat?! Ooh-ah!
...as they help animals of all shapes...
I didn't think I'd be hugging a turkey today.
...sizes... That's more like pulling a calf out!
...types...
Nearly clone, nearly clone, Bertie.
...and temperaments.
Ow! He's bit me.
It's definitely not glamourous.
Penile amputations still make me squirm a little bit.
But it's varied.
Eee-aw! You ought to know better.
It's rarely easy. Urgh!
But they continue the Herriot tradition...
Whoa! ..treating all creatures.
That's it, there we go, there we go.
...great... Aw, Merlin.
Come on!
...and small.
There's very little that's ordinary about Yorkshire.
So much of this land can't be fully explained or understood.
The high peaks...
...meandering valleys...
...mysterious skyscrapers of stone.
A Yorkshire vet's work can involve even stranger things.
Before keen youngsters can adventure into the unknown,
they might arrive back-to-front,
or insides-out.
And as he heads to his latest emergency,
Peter's fears are about the upside-down.
Just had a call from a farmer called Stephen
who is quite concerned about a cow that he's got that's calving.
Ancl it sounds as if the calf is in an abnormal position,
because he said the head is right down underneath
and he can't feel it particularly well.
The cow who has Stephen in a spin is 13-year-old Daisy.
When I had a feel inside, it's upside-down.
It isn't a big calf,
but I just thought I'd better have a help to do it.
Stephen is very, very experienced,
and I know he'll be watching her very carefully,
so hopefully, we'll have a good outcome.
But as Peter knows from his last visit,
not every calving has a happy ending.
PAINED MOO
There's no heartbeat. No.
Ah, clear.
The calf was dead before we started, but we had to get the calf out,
otherwise we were going to lose them both.
We rarely get this nowadays, you know.
We've had a long session, haven't we?
Morning, sir. Good morning, Stephen. How are you?
Oh, I'm in good fettle, thank you. Good lad.
Good to see you. It's upside-down, the head's down below.
Right. I brought her in yesterday cos I thought she was going to calf,
and she just hasn't bothered at all. Ancl she's opened up OK?
Yeah, I got my hands in no bother at all, Peter. Yeah.
Daisy holds a special place in Stephen's heart.
She's the old favourite, she's the oldest one we have.
How lovely. So, she's a bit of a pet, then?
Yeah, she is.
You wouldn't think this cow was in second stage of lab our,
which is when she should be straining.
The calf should be coming like this with its head and feet together,
almost in a diving position.
But its head is underneath,
and of course, then they can't engage the birth canal properly.
Ancl as a consequence of that, they don't get on
and start straining to produce the calf.
Let's have a look and see what we've got there.
Have you had your Weetabix this morning?
THEY CHUCKLE
Oh, no.
Not even porridge today. Oh, no.
Yes, there's two front feet there, but there's no head, is there?
No. Yeah.
I see exactly what your problem is.
She can't get the calf into position.
No, that's right, you see.
It's way back in, that head, isn't it?
Way back in and down and underneath.
It's hard work, because the neck's twisted right round underneath.
I'm trying to get this head... up into position,
but you're working at arm's length, up to my armpit.
Yeah, yeah. And 'R's... 'R's not easy.
MOO
Right, now I'm going to try and get a head rope on there.
Yeah, right.
What we call a water bag, which is the placental sac.
So I've just ruptured that now,
so that I can then work underneath the sac,
to get the head rope on.
If it's getting rid of its water bag,
it'll be making a bit more room. It is.
I've got the head rope on now.
I think it's going to straighten up once we start and pull. Pull, right.
Get a bit more lube in there.
That's that.
Where's that other leg now?
It's there. That's it.
I'm going to ease that next leg through now a bit,
which is that one.
Right.
I'm just gonna put a little bit of tension on there now.
Let her do a bit of pushing as well. Yes, that's right.
It's a reasonable size.
Let's just hope it's alive.
In Huddersfield, jo has arrived at the hospital
from a local college's animal care centre,
with one of their big characters.
Bugs is a giant continental rabbit,
so he's larger than the average rabbit,
and he's big and fluffy.
One of the students last week was giving him a health check
and noticed that he's got a big mass in between his shoulder blades,
which I'm a bit concerned about.
I'm just wanting Matt to have a look to let me know
if it's, I don't know, a cyst or a tumour.
He lives with another rabbit called Fergie.
We've got a little tiny rabbit and huge rabbit, and they're bonded.
It'd be really sad if we lost him, cos she'd be friendless.
You all right, Jo? How's things? Hey, Matt.
Erm... Not too good. I'm a bit concerned about Bugs.
Yeah. He's got a lump that I'd like you to have a look at.
Right, then, let's have a look at him.
Come on, Bugs.
HE GRUNTS
Yeah.
There we go. There you go.
Blooming hell. One big rabbit, one big, hairy rabbit.
That is one big bun-bun.
Right, then, let's have a feel.
Oh, yeah, I can feel that.
Sometimes, you get nice fatty lumps that are quite soft, can't you?
But I see what you mean, that's really quite solid
and quite nodular on Bugs there, isn't it?
Eh, Bugs? Eh? What do you think it might be?
Feeling it, potentially a tumour of the muscle tissue.
I think, in all honesty, Jo, given how quickly that's come up
and how quickly it's growing, we best have it off.
What's causing it, gosh know,
but I think we'll get the lump off to the lab as well,
and then we know exactly what we're dealing with. Yeah.
Just check you for any other lumps, chief. Oh, Bugs.
I know. Let's have a feel. Look at him!
He's like, "No! No!" "What you doing?"
He knows you, that's why.
First things first, the 64 million kilo question.
Right, let's see how much he weighs.
What do you reckon?
I reckon... I reckon seven and a half.
You're going seven and a half. I'll go six and a half.
You reckon? Right, then, Bugs, let's see how much you weigh.
All right.
Good lad. That's it. You just stay there.
Certainly not your average rabbit.
This is a rabbit that's been pumping iron
at the gym for a long time.
6.1 kilos,jo.
I was hoping it wasn't gonna be something as serious,
but I had a feeling it might be something not so good.
But hopefully, he can remove it and that'll be the end of it,
and he'll be all right again and go back to his friend, Fergie.
So, the plan is to clip a nice big patch
on the back of Bugs' back,
and get rid of this mass and all its attachments.
However, it does have some roots into the muscle,
which I'm going to have to make sure I take out,
because sometimes, if you don't take a tumour out in its entirety
and you leave some of the roots there,
it can just start to spread and grow again.
Now we've clipped the fur,
it's so obvious where that mass is.
I just don't like the feel of it at all.
LAUGHTER
Man down!
Peter's down, but will the calf give him a lift?
Bit of fluid on her.
HARD SLAPPING
And can Julian...
Lancelot... Is that Lancelot there?
...be a white knight for a coughing sheep?
LOUD COUGHING
There is quite an area of consolidation in his lungs.
NARRATOR: Near Kirkbymoorside,
Peter's trying to save an unborn calf
who's stuck in an unusual, upside-down position...
I think I've got that head pretty much squared up now.
...with Stephen also worried about his favourite cow, Daisy.
We're making a bit of headway now, Steve. Yes.
Yep, that's lined up now. That's there. Yeah.
Right. Now we'll have a bit of tension on these legs.
Right.
Ah, that's it.
We're making way. Yeah.
THEY GRUNT
Right, Steve.
Come on, lass. It's coming.
Keep coming.
We'll just pull on his legs. Yeah.
It's coming, Steve. Yeah, it's coming.
COW MOOS
Come on, lass, push.
That's it.
LAUGHTER
Man down!
He's bigger than I thought, Peter. He's a decent calf, Steve.
Yep, that's grand.
Oh, it's lovely, a lovely sight.
STEPHEN GRUNTS
A bit of fluid on.
HARD SLAPPING
We're maybe not so bad at that. No.
Maybe not so bad. Shall we take him round to see her?
There we are, lass.
I don't think you need me, do you?
You know what to do, don't you, eh?
You know what to do. She's a beauty, isn't she?
Just... I'm going to have a quick feel in,
to make sure she's OK.
Oh, beautiful.
Very satisfying, when they go like that, aren't they? It is, yeah.
I'll tell you what, she's soon got her head up,
hasn't she, that calf? Hasn't it, calf. Yes!
Do you know, I can just stand and look at him, you know. Yeah.
It gives you so much pleasure, doesn't it? It does, yes.
When you've happy outcome after the last outcome we had. Yes.
Beaut. Absomte beaut.
CHUCKLES
It'll be her 10th or 11th calf.
Is it really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, you can see she knows what to do. Oh, yeah.
I don't think that cow needs anything,
any medication. No. Right.
I don't think she does, Steve. I'll keep an eye on her. Right.
Very good!
When you visit a farm
and you've got to attend to help with a calving,
you're never quite sure what you're going to find,
what problems you're going to encounter.
The problem here was the calf's head was twisted
through nearly 180 degrees, and as a consequence of that,
without intervention, the calf would've cited.
When you leave the farm,
you've got the cow standing there, licking the calf,
it doesn't really get much better than this.
In West Yorkshire, Julian's on his way
to see regular client Grace,
who's utterly devoted to her flock of sheep.
Hello. Hello.
And as he knows from experience...
Become aware of your shoulders.
...she loves to share their special qualities.
We're going to become more aware of our senses.
The main area of my life is all about helping people
who are not in a good place to find inner peace and harmony.
Sheep are really therapeutic. They're very sensitive.
How does that feel? Woolly.
Now she's spreading the word even further.
Suddenly, my life has changed, and now I'm doing some writing.
I've always wanted to write books, and I just thought, you know,
maybe a few people might buy it.
I was not expecting thousands of people to buy it.
I'm hoping to write another book, for children this time,
because sheep are magical creatures,
and not many people know that.
But while things are looking good on paper,
there are problems in the pen.
And she needs Julian's help once more.
The patient today is Lancelot.
He's over there, hiding.
Ancl he's got this really strange intermittent cough
that he's had ever since I got him, actually.
Sometimes, when he's running, he'll cough.
Or often, when he's eating hay, he'll cough.
It's one of the things I wake up about
in the middle of the night...
CHUCKLES
Hello. Morning, Grace.
Hiya. You all right?
It's a bit boggy. I know.
So, Lancelot... Is that Lancelot there?
With the big woolly cheeks.
And a bad cough, you say?
Yes. Poor Lancelot.
When he starts coughing, how long does it last?
Is it in a big burst? Yeah. It can go on for ages.
'Hello, hello, hello. Oh, Lancelot.' COUGHING.
Gosh. 'Oh, clear.'
That was mild, actually. He can do it a lot worse than that.
I'll need to take his temperature and listen to his chest
and listen to his windpipe. So you've got to stand still.
It's not a very common problem, really.
It's not something that we see very often.
Temperature is 39 and a half,
which is up for a sheep. Oh, poor Lancelot.
If we can just slightly swap positions,
and then I'm gonna listen to his heart.
So, things like a heart murmur, you know, can cause a cough.
You've got to keep still, Lancey. So, it'll be unusual in a sheep,
but we need to check his heart's working properly.
Just keep still, Lancelot, just keep still.
So, his heart sounds OK, which is good,
but there is quite an area of consolidation in his lungs.
SHEEP COUGHS
So, the normal lung tissue should be like a sponge,
full of air and squidgy. But if it's consolidated,
it means that tissue is more solid and it's not stretchy,
so air doesn't go in,
and oxygen doesn't go where it's supposed to.
The airways become inflamed because they can't expand properly.
If it's only a small area of lung that's damaged, that's fine.
But if it's a bigger area, then it will become more compromising.
Yeah, it's on this side as well.
HORSE GRUNTS
Over in Huddersfield, Matt's in theatre
with Bugs, the local college's continental giant rabbit.
All right, let's see.
He's removing big Bugs' large lump.
And for Nurse Megan, it's big pressure.
Rabbits are always a bit more high-risk an aesthetic.
I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on it throughout the surgery
and make sure all its parameters stay stable.
So, here is the lump.
Oh, it looks like it's pus-filled.
I'm gonna have to be careful with this.
Hopefully, we can get this lump off this chap.
But it looks like it's sitting within the muscle itself.
So, I'm going to have to take some healthy muscle tissue around it
to make sure I've got all the tumour cells.
Nasty. It's a very peculiar lump, is this.
I'm just trying to work out how deep it goes.
But these roots just seem to extend further
than I'd be hoping right now.
Hmm.
Complicates things a little bit.
How are we doing? Absolutely fine.
Good.
So, you can see here, all the blood vessels.
That's one thing tumours are good at,
they're very good at recruiting blood vessels,
cos the blood vessels provide all the food and nutrition
that the tumour needs to grow and thrive.
That is a big blood vessel. That there has got no other purpose
than to feed the growth of this lump.
If I just cut through that, there'll be blood everywhere.
Coming away quite nicely now.
There we go.
Lovely. So, I'm really pleased with that.
I've got the entirety of the lump out,
as well as the roots that were here and here.
Right, excellent. Let's get that lump off to the lab.
Have you ever had pet rabbits, Megan?
Yeah, I had one called Flopsy.
He were litter-tray trained.
He'd literally take himself downstairs when he was upstairs
to go to the litter tray, he was so good.
I had... My first one was called Perkins.
I wanted to try and breed them at one point in time.
I had one called Lenny, and then Madison and Maxine.
But then Maxine kept eating her babies,
so that wasn't really successful. Oh, no.
I've had rabbits, I rescued a pigeon, I've had rats.
I really like rats, but my mum's absolutely petrified of them.
Rats are some of the best pets ever. They're meant to be amazing pets.
Oh, so good. So clever!
Used to give it a bit of Sunday dinner.
Aw! Sit there, a bit of beef, bit of meat and two veg.
SHE CHUCKLES
All clone.
Wouldn't have known anything were there. Lovely.
Once we've come round, we can go back to the college
and we can go back to our bunny pals,
and we just gotta wait on those results now.
Sitting up already. Smashed it, Megan.
Good lad.
That tumour did look quite nasty,
and I was concerned its roots were spreading quite far.
Ah, there you go. I've managed to get the whole thing out,
but we're not out of the woods yet.
Until we get this lump off to the lab,
we won't know what we're dealing with.
'Ey up, chief, you all right?
Matt has news on big Bugs.
Because the lump had come up so quick,
sometimes that can be the sign of nasty cancerous tumours,
and got the results back...
Can David help a poorly Oriental kitten?
He's always been the smallest in the litter.
Yesterday, he looked even worse.
A bit small there, isn't he?
And the Greens head east, as Steve gets a seaside surprise.
I want to bring him back to somewhere special,
is the farm he grew up on.
Ancl I believe it's 80 years since he was last here.
No, it couldn't be.
NARRATOR: In Huddersfield, Matt's at the local college
after operating on their continental giant rabbit Bugs,
to remove his worrying lump.
Bugs had a lump underneath his skin
that I was really quite concerned
could be something nasty and cancerous.
So, I've come back today to check on him,
make sure everything's healed up, and deliver the test results tojo.
You all right, Jo? Hiya, Matt, you all right?
How is it going? Not bad. You? Yeah, not bad.
Got the results back, and it's good news.
It's nothing cancerous or anything like that,
it's just a piece of reactive tissue
that was sat solidly in between his shoulder blades.
So, how's he doing?
He's doing really well.
He seems quite well in himself, and his hair's growing back,
and he's pleased to be back with his little friend, anyway.
Oh, fantastic. How long did it take him to come round, then?
Oh, it took a while. Yeah, yeah.
He was a bit unsteady all night.
I kept an eye on him. Yeah. Kept falling over.
But he did come around, and by the morning, he were fine.
Excellent. Right, let's have a look at him.
Come here, lad. I've got you.
All right. There you go.
'Ey up, chief. You all right?
Because the lump had come up so quick,
sometimes, that can be the sign of nasty cancerous tumours,
and I wasn't willing to take the risk
to just see how it went.
All good, at least it's not cancerous.
Yes, nothing cancerous there. Nothing we need to worry about.
He will live to see another clay. He will, indeed.
Tell you what, you can't feel the lump there at all.
It's totally gone. No remnants of it at all.
Which is great news, isn't it, Bugs? Good lad.
Right then, Jo, I shall leave you to it
and get Bugs back to his pals, eh?
Thank you very much. No worries, see you later.
See you later, Matt. Bye! See you later, Bugs.
After having an operation and going through all that trauma,
for it to turn out well is really pleasing,
and the students will be happy, and I'm sure the staff will be as well.
Ancl his little friend will be even happier
that she's not losing her partner.
There you go.
I am so pleased that Bugs has recovered well,
and he can crack on as normal.
Fur's grown back, so he's not even gonna be too chilly
when it gets cold this winter.
At the practice in Wetherby, the nurses need their safe space.
Only the nurses go in this drawer, cos look,
all the nurses' stethoscopes, you don't see...
All the scrub hats. There's no vet stuff in here either.
They even have a secret stash.
Sometimes, when we hit a wall at, like, two o'clock,
do you know what I mean, we have to have a little Yorkshire mix.
But as you can tell, all the worst ones are left.
Only Yorkshire people can have it, that's why...
I'm the only one in here that can have it.
And although she works in the west...
Good afternoon, Sandbeck Veterinary Centre,
Beverly speaking.
...Lucy recently moved north.
Proper Yorkshire, only West Yorkshire.
I'm now in North Yorkshire, that's why I'm so much posher.
Oh, you sound so posh, Lucy (!) Do I not sound posher?
No! I know I sound posher,
cos I went home, and my clad was like, "Oooh."
DOG BARKS
But Lucy's posh tones might have been a little too loud
to keep their sweet secret.
Erm...
Them pesky receptionists running in and stealing them all.
We're gonna have to change drawers. Where shall we put it?
I don't know. Let's hide it somewhere else.
Where would they not go?
We could just move it down. Somewhere high, no-one's that tall.
No, cos then I can't reach it!
Safely out of the way, to avoid sweet-stealing accusations...
Do you want a listen?
"Julian's examining Grace's therapy sheep, Lancelot,
who has a cough. And he's concerned about his lungs.
It's actually a bit worse on this side than the other side.
So, a normal lung should sound... There should really be no noise.
Ancl you can hear there, there's like a...
Yeah.
Like Darth Vader.
Often, it's something that you see early in life,
you know, as a young lamb.
So, if the lungs are abnormal,
then that does predispose to infections,
and so they can fill up with pus or goo or mucus.
And that can spread.
But generally, if it's simply consolidated lung tissue,
it won't spread, and it won't get any worse,
and it won't get any better. But if there's some infection there,
then we can tackle that quite easily with antibiotics.
OK. There's a very good antibiotic for exactly this kind of thing,
that a single close will be sufficient. Phew.
It's simple enough to do,
but are you all right just to keep him a bit still?
I'm gonna go around there,
so it's away from you and away from me.
Good boy, Lancelot, good boy. That's you clone.
There we are. Normally, a single close is sufficient.
Ancl that'll take away any infection that's there.
It concentrates in the lung tissue,
and it persists in the lung tissue for quite a while,
so it's perfect for this kind of thing. Great.
Ancl I think from here, just see how he gets on.
Keep him fairly steady. Try not to let him do too much running around.
He's my pet. I am gutted. I know, I know.
Very good. Well, thank you for calling me out,
and keep in touch, let me know how he gets on.
Well, thank you for coming. All right. No problem. Bye.
I feel really sad. I mean, it sounds not so terrible, I know,
but I love them all.
Ancl so, just to think of him with some nasty stodgy lungs going on,
that's really sad.
Well, this is quite a big problem for Lancelot.
When he does start coughing, it seems to be very dramatic.
And he coughs, and he can't stop,
his head goes down and almost bangs on the ground
with the vigour of the coughing.
I'm hoping that there is some pockets of infection
that will be improved by the... by the antibiotics.
For the time being, he needs to put his feet up and take it easy.
That's his best chance.
Ancl then once the drugs do their thing, he should recover
and improve, to at least be able to keep up with his mates.
COUGHING
As he approaches his 95th birthday,
Steve Green is one of the country's oldest working farmers.
There we are.
Helped, of course...
just keep still.
...by his beloved wife, jean.
I'll teach you.
Steve has lived in Thirsk for eight decades.
But before he moved to Herriot country...
...his family farm was 50 miles away in Whitby,
on Yorkshire's stunning coastline.
This is where I come from.
Where Steve used to live.
That's that bridge!
Ah, that's it.
That's where I climbed up.
SHE CHUCKLES
So, today, Peter's organised a birthday surprise -
a trip back to where it all began.
I want to bring him back to somewhere special,
which is the farm where he grew up on.
Ancl I believe it's 80 years since he was last here.
So it's a very special clay for me,
and it's also a very special clay for Mr Green.
Do you recognise where you are?
Is this your farm?
No, it couldn't be.
Aye, it is. The caravans.
Aye, it is. Aye, that's it.
There you are, boss.
Oh, it... it's all fixed up now, you see.
Now, Steve, how are you?
All right? Hold on. just go steady.
Oh, I'm pleased to see you. This is where I was born, here.
I thought it'd be a nice treat for you to come back.
Ave, it is!
There's a Fergie tractor.
Aye, this is it.
That was the barn, but it was a lot higher, like.
These days, the farm's owner is Willy.
Willy! This is Steve.
Hello, Steven. Pleased to meet you. Aye, pleased to meet you.
Ancl Jeannie. Jeannie.
So, you lived here all your life, Willy? All my life, yes.
Your granddad, I believe, bought this from the Greens.
Eighty-odd years ago. JEAN: Eighty year on Thursday.
This coming Thursday? Yep.
Ah, yeah. He was 15, and he's 95.
Yeah, aye. That's a few years ago.
LAUGHTER
Dairy used to be just there.
Aye.
Let's go and have a look in, shall we, Steve?
Come and have a look, Steve, and I can show you. Aye.
At the animal hospital in Huddersfield,
they see lots of cats and dogs. DOG BARKING
But today, David's expecting some less familiar felines.
Got Sharon coming in, bringing in a nice litter of kittens
for their second vaccine.
They're a bit of an unusual breed,
so I'm looking forward to seeing what they look like.
I've been breeding Siamese cats and Oriental cats for about 15 years.
It's a passion, to an obsession.
They're wonderful creatures. They're very dog-like, very loyal.
Yeah, very similar to a lap dog.
They'll fetch and carry, they'll work for you as well.
But Sharon and Chris are worried
about the smallest kitten in the litter.
A couple of clays ago, he didn't look too great.
And last night, he had really bad diarrhoea,
and he's not very well.
Hi. Have you got the kittens? Hiya.
Do you want to come through? Want me to give you a hand?
DOG WHINES
Hey, guys. They're pretty chilled out in there, aren't they?
Yeah, they're lovely babies. Yeah.
Are there any really naughty ones or are they all...?
They're all naughty. Are they all naughty?
THEY CHUCKLE
Okay-duke.
MEWLING
That's a good boy.
Hmm? Yeah.
So, the first one's had his vaccine,
and now he's gonna have his microchip.
It's a little bit of a bigger needle, this one.
I know, dude. That's a good boy.
Oh, look at that. Perfect example, aren't you, eh?
Just double check it's working.
There we are. Smashing.
Fabulous. One down. One down.
You look a bit more timid, don't you, hey?
You're still really good, aren't you?
MEWLING
Another good boy.
Very good boy. Next.
Not a peep. Tough lad, aren't you?
She is a bit timid, this one.
You're not going anywhere, are you?
You never know. It's always the quiet ones, innit?
They're all being so good. Yeah, so far, so good.
That normally means the last one's gonna be a tricky one.
Once the jabs and chips are all done...
Good girl. There we go.
Let's just double check it's working, that one.
BEEP
...David can turn his attention to the smallest, poorly kitten.
A couple of clays ago, he didn't look too great.
He's always been the smallest in the litter,
but I looked and thought, "You don't look so great."
It's bad. Yeah.
Watery, isn't it? Mm-hm.
Hey, dude. Yesterday, he looked even worse.
He had a runny bum. And today, he's still got a runny bum,
but it looks like he's straining to go.
MEWLING
A bit small there, isn't he?
At this stage, you do worry, because when you're breeding,
you see these things happen, don't you?
And sometimes, they come through, sometimes, they don't.
MEWLING
Good boy, Lancelot. Clever boy.
To see if Lancelot's tale has a happy ending,
Julian hits the books.
So, who am I signing it for? Please could you sign it tojulian?
And Steve goes back to the very start of his farming story.
Which cow was in here, Steven? Called Elsie.
How many times did you lose milking bucket over?
Oh, a few times.
NARRATOR: In West Yorkshire...
Hello.
Hello, my special little baby.
Julian recently treated Grace's sheep Lancelot
for lung problems that were causing a nasty cough.
It was awful when Julian described exactly what was going on.
I felt... Well, I was heartbroken,
because I just... I really love these sheep.
They are literally like my children.
I wasn't expecting any change at all,
but amazingly, actually,
his cough has reduced by, I would say 50%.
Ancl the most amazing thing was there was one night
when they were all just having fun -
so, Beryl was running, and all the others were chasing him -
and Lancelot managed to keep up and not cough.
Ancl that was just lovely, that he could play as well.
So, with one happy ending written...
Good boy, Lancelot. Clever boy.
...Grace is ready to share her sheep love...
So, are we all ready for a story?
CHILDREN: Yeah!
...with a bookshop reading of her new children's story.
"|t was a bitterly cold night
"when Shakta the ewe felt a twinge in her tummy.
"I think my baby's coming, she said to herself.
"Time to get myself under some shelter.
"We must keep warm, she said,
"and gathered the three lambs as close to her as possible."
OK, so, everybody, thank you for letting me read to you,
and I hope you enjoyed the story.
Thank you!
Aw, you're very welcome.
Am I signing this for you? Ancl your name is?
Catalina. Catalina. What a beautiful name.
And who's next?
Goodness! Please can you sign my book?
Who's this in the queue? So, who am I signing it for?
Please can you sign it tojulian?
Julian. Ancl is that the normal spelling?
Just the normal spelling, yeah.
How's it going? Has it been a good clay?
Yeah, but I mean, it's not easy, is it,
getting kids to sit for a while?
So, the next book, is that on the cards?
Is it underway? It is.
That's gonna be about Galahad and Lancelot.
Very nice. So, how is Lancelot, is he on the mend?
He is. He's actually a lot better since that injection,
which is phenomenal, and he looked really proud of himself.
Good stuff. He's finding...
finding his place at the round table.
Yes.
Over in Huddersfield,
David's hoping there's no unpleasant plot twist.
Do you want me to hold him? Yeah, just at one end.
I'll take the smelly end.
After vaccinating the rest of the litter,
he's examining the smallest Oriental kitten...
Let's check his temperature.
...who Sharon and Chris fear is very poorly.
Gonna be sore, I think, but we need to check it. Yeah.
The smaller they are, sometimes the harder it is to hold them.
MEWLING
High temperature.
You say he's got a temperature? Yeah.
Let's put him on a course of antibiotics.
Just with the smell as well, it smells like a bit of an infection
in there as well. I know, obviously, he's always been the smallest one,
but it's more likely the smallest one in the litter
that does pick up something always, as I'm sure you'll know.
OK, I'll get him that injection out.
And then, of course, to go on with the palatable drops.
All right, I'll keep him a second.
He's going home, back to his heated bed,
make him cosy, try and get him comfortable,
but he's sore.
We've called him Mike.
You're just a little diddler.
Poorly boy.
Poorly little one. He's got quite a bit of diarrhoea,
so we're gonna start him on some treatment,
and hopefully, he picks up quickly with that.
MEWLING
They're good babies, they're my pride and joy.
It's just a shame we've got one poorly one,
but the others are doing really well.
Thanks for bringing them to see me. Thank you very much.
So, it's gone really well with the vaccinations.
Just need to keep an eye on the last one
that has diarrhoea at the moment.
If he doesn't improve quickly,
then we might have to have him in, give him some fluids
and some more intensive treatment.
A month later...
Hello, sweetie.
KISSES TEETH
...two of Sharon's kittens are still waiting for new homes,
including Mike.
Within a few clays, he picked up fabulous.
Ancl this is him now.
He's looking amazing.
Aren't you? Yeah!
He's made a fantastic recovery,
eating me out of house and home all over again.
So, I'm really happy-
So, he's ready to go to his new home now.
Ancl it'd be lovely to see these two go together.
They make a great pair.
DOORBELL RINGS
Hi, Christine. Hi, Sharon.
Hello. Come on in. How are you?
I'm good, thank you. How are you? Lovely.
Are you coming?
Come see your new mum. Come on.
BECKON I NG CALLS
He's gorgeous. He's a little bruiser. Erm...
At first, he seems quite small and frail and everything,
but when you watch them,
and you see them interacting together, he's fantastic.
He's playful, he's friendly, he's lovely.
I'm really looking forward to being his mum.
In you go. There you are.
That's a good boy. With your bro.
It's always sad to see them go,
but it's quite rewarding to see them go.
It's nice to see them settled in their new homes.
You keep in touch. I will.
Send me photos and let me know how they get on.
I'll send you some photos in a clay or two.
Any problems, give me a shout. Thanks a lot.
All right. Thanks a lot, Christine.
See you. Bye. Bye.
I'm happy. I couldn't ask for any more.
Christine's a lovely person, she'll look after 'em fabulous.
Over on the North Yorkshire Coast,
Peter's in Whitby with Steve and jean Green,
after arranging a 95th birthday surprise for Steve.
You can see it's me lawn mower store at the moment!
Aye.
A first-ever trip back to the farm where he was born and raised.
Steve's family had a dairy business here in the 1920s and '30s.
How many cows would have been in here?
Oh, there'd be 13 in here.
Thirteen? Aye.
Of course, these will be original, are they, Willy?
They are original.
Polly stood in there. Polly?
My mam used to milk her. Really?
So, you remember your mother milking a cow in that corner?
I do, yes. Gah, crikey.
She was a kicker, and you had to be really gentle with her.
That must have been naughty girl corner, was it? Yeah!
Although there are no farm animals here now...
Did you say there were some other cows?
Yeah, there was... Aye, that's it!
That's where I started... Yeah.
...Willy has other uses for the buildings.
Now they're dog kennels, Steve. Aye.
And that's Rocky.
You've made a good job of it, haven't you?
Which cow was in here, Steven?
Called Elsie.
Was she a good-un or a bad-un? Oh, quiet.
Oh. Really quiet. She had her own stride outside.
Aye, is that the one you milked? That's the one. Aye.
How many times did you lose milking bucket over?
Oh, a few times.
I didn't expect... No?
No, I'm a bit excited.
LAUGHTER
I'm enjoying it.
Brings back a lot of memories.
Threshing machine would stand there.
You haven't forgotten, have you? LAUGHTER
Aye.
Same kind of weather.
Bit of fog.
I suppose you could see Whitby Abbey,
couldn't you, from here?
Aye, you could. My uncle said, "You'll never settle there."
He didn't think you'd settle in Thirsk, didn't he, Steve? No, no.
"As soon as they lost the sight of Whitby Abbey,
"they'll want to be back again."
LAUGHTER
Despite his uncle's warnings,
Steve and his parents left Whitby's wonderful views behind
towards the end of the Second World War.
You obviously left in 1944 when the war was on.
Was that a factor in why your clad wanted to move?
It were the tanks and that.
JEAN: Army tanks. Oh, aye. Practising.
Tanks? Would they have come over your land?
Oh, that's right, right across anywhere.
They'd make a heck of a mess, wouldn't they? Oh, they did.
So if that was happening regularly,
I can see why your clad would get fed up.
WILLY: Tell you what we found, Steven, in the loft -
the deeds from when my grandad bought it off your dad.
JEAN: Steve, you bought it in October 1920.
And you would sell it to my granddad, 1944.
PETER: What do you think about putting an offer in for it, Steve,
and moving back? I think you'll have to put a fair bid in
to get it back now, Steve. I would.
LAUGHTER
I've had a good clay, looking back on my life.
That's good, that, isn't it?
It is, yeah. Aye!
I've appreciated it.
I think about my mother and clad.
Friends coming to play and mess around and that.
I remember, there used to be a hand... Aye.
...a big handle. Aye. Turnip peeler.
Turnip cutter. Was that your job, cutting turnips, Steve?
Aye, aye, it was one of my jobs.
That would warm you up. It did.
I think it's brought an awful lot of memories back for Steven.
So, this has been a fantastic clay, for me as well, really,
to be able to bring him here and enjoy a trip down memory lane.
I never thought I'd stand up here again.
I didn't.