Fathers, Daughters & a Crafty Goat Take Center Stage in 'All Creatures Great and Small'

This week’s All Creatures Great & Small introduces us to an ancient craft, dry-stone walling. The stone walls that snake and curve over the Dales (and many other parts of the U.K.) were built by hand, with no cement, a tradition that dates back to prehistoric times. Richard Alderson is rebuilding a damaged piece of wall with Helen and Jenny, and (as usual) James is the butt of most of his grumbling. You never know whether Richard Alderson is having a joke at your expense, and he enjoys teasing James. He tells James it’s the beginning of a three-year learning experience straight out of prehistoric times, starting with picking (choosing the stones, never call them rocks), followed by sorting and putting.

Helen suggests they visit the ponies, where Joan, awaiting the birth of a new foal, shares a stable with her daughter Candy. They meet the postwoman, who arrives with a very important piece of mail for Jenny: her summons to nurse training in London, where she’s expected to register in three weeks. It’s a huge moment, and her first reaction is to defer her training for a year, but her family disagrees. Even Richard Alderton, not at all happy to see his Jenny Wren fly away to a new home, knows she must leave.

Helen and James snatch a moment together at the stone wall repair site as Helen frets that her sister isn’t ready to leave her family (and they’re not ready to see her go). There are some practical worries – she won’t know about her accommodation until she arrives, and she’s only allowed to bring three pairs of underwear. (Intriguing.) James, possibly revealing more of his former bachelor life than we want to know, wonders if she’s expected to turn them inside out to last a week.

Unfortunately, the pony visit reveals that Candy has pneumonia; James prescribes antibiotics. To add to their worries, Candy’s mother, Joan, now late in her pregnancy, is showing signs of illness, and James diagnoses mastitis. The treatment is painful and involves removing the infected milk, and Jenny takes over. She invites Candy to suckle, which the young pony is eager to do, and it's by far the most humane option.

Over at Skeldale House, Audrey Hall asks Siegfried for permission to take a short trip to visit her son Edward and his family, to celebrate her granddaughter’s first birthday. She assures Siegfried that she will be coming back, and it’s only for a weekend. Tristan has a date to go riding with Charlotte Beauvoir, but, oops, his breeches have a large hole in the seat. Siegfried comments that it’s probably not the sort of beautiful Yorkshire view Charlotte has in mind. Audrey steps up to mend them and also volunteers to teach Tristan croquet, since he’s been invited to a croquet lunch by General Beauvoir the next day. Siegfried, left in charge of lunch, burns the food and resorts to the mother lode of canned sardines.

Later that afternoon, a client, Mrs. Stokes (Susan Hilton), and her goat, Hilda, arrive in a cart, and Siegfried calls James and Tristan to help catch the patient. She’s been brought in because she was lame, but now seems to have made a miraculous recovery, scampering around the town square.

Tristan now has an ordeal by gentility, the croquet lunch. Siegfried insists he take the Colonel’s bill for Philbrick’s treatment, although Tristan feels awkward about it. When he arrives, Col. Beauvoir announces that croquet is canceled because conditions aren’t right, so they will play pool (aka billiards, don’t ask us to explain). Tristan fakes his way through the game, following Charlotte’s prompts, but it becomes clear he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

The Colonel cross-questions Tristan about his profession while guests, in particular Lord Neville Gladwin (Noé Sébert), make the usual sort of jokes about arms inside cows. The Colonel bemoans the fact that Covent Garden was transformed during the war into the Mecca Ballroom. (It reopened as an opera house in 1946.) Tristan argues it’s a good decision, since so many young people in military service and/or war work in London need relief from their stressful lives. He then presents the Colonel with the bill for Philbright’s treatment and walks outside, where Charlotte joins him.

He apologizes to her for his outburst and explains how out of place he feels. But the Colonel joins them and hands Tristan a check. He explains that he trusts Tristan with his horses, but his primary concern is his daughter’s happiness. He feared losing her when she was with the ATS in a war zone, and the two men reconcile when Tristan offers to teach him bar billiards. (That’s the smaller, lower-class version of the game. I do hope we’ll see Col. Beauvoir in the Drovers’ Arms soon, sinking pints.)

While Tristan is finding his feet, Siegfried is back with the goat. A call to Skeldale House from Mrs. Stokes reveals Hilda’s symptoms have returned. Siegfried and Mrs. Stokes crawl on the ground to catch the goat alone, clearly lame and dangling her sore leg in the air. Siegfried diagnoses Shelly Hoof, a condition where the keratin of the hoof is damaged and admits dirt and stones.

But he’s intrigued by the goat’s behavior, and talks about it to Audrey when he returns home. The goat demonstrated a coping mechanism to hide its pain, which would make it vulnerable to predators. He is surprised by his revelation that humans, such as the inhabitants of Skeldale House, use similar techniques to support their emotional health.

The Aldersons are counting down the days to Jenny’s departure, as Helen finds a poignant piece of family history, a patchwork quilt with a final panel worked by their mother, celebrating the birth of Jenny, depicted as a bird in a tree. Helen asks why she doesn’t have a panel, and her father explains that she is represented by the sun shining down on Jenny Wren. Helen starts her own panel for the quilt, depicting Joan, Candy, and the expected foal.

Jenny says goodbye to her childhood by giving her toys to her niece and nephews, and then invites Helen to come to London to see her settled in. Surprisingly, it’s Mr. Alderton’s idea. Helen is torn – she doesn’t want to leave her children and James, but she wants to do the best for her sister and help her transition into independence.

Mr. Alderton has had one more idea. A phone (something he formerly referred to as “the devil’s work”) is installed at the farm. It’s not for James, he says sternly. It’s for his Jenny Wren. We also get a quick glance at the paddock, where Joan, Candy, and the new foal, Florence, enjoy the sunshine. Most surprisingly of all, now that the wall is repaired, Mr. Alderton praises James’s contribution to the project.

All Creatures Great & Small Season 6 will continue with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. All episodes of Season 6 are available to stream on PBS Passport for members.