All Creatures Great and Small is getting a new arrival in the shape of Cedric the dog.
Yes, Cedric is joining the show in episode three of All Creatures Great and Small season 4, which is also the same episode that will see the arrival of James Anthony-Rose as fish out of water student vet Richard Carmody.
Boxer Cedric, pictured above, moves into Pumphrey Manor with Mrs Pumphrey (Patricia Hodge) and her pampered Pekinese Tricki Woo (played by Derek the dog).
Mrs Pumphrey is looking after Cedric while his owner is away at war.
"Mrs Pumphrey demands quite a bit of the practice," explains Patricia Hodge. "She has taken on this dog, which has some anti-social problems. It’s a big dog and so strong — it nearly pulled me over. Cedric is very different from the 'furry brooch' that is Tricki Woo."
Talking about the storyline in more detail, she says: "She has this garden party arranged so she actually comes into the surgery because for the war, she’s taking in one or two other animals.
"This storyline has quite a humorous element which was fun to film, it’s quite amusing from that point of view that she takes him in and we see her discomfort.
"And, of course, there’s the new vet there, Carmody (James Anthony-Rose), who she doesn’t really want to have to deal with, because she likes Uncle Herriot. And he rubs her up the wrong way, Richard Carmody, and so there’s a bit of a dance that goes on for the rest of the series about whether she’ll accept the new status quo. It’s a question of how they adjust to each other over the episodes.
"Carmody’s an interloper, if you like, in all respects. And like with all these things, you have to get your head around the community you’ve landed in, and he takes a while to attune to it. His style with patients and people is not great, and they will have to educate him into it. And similarly, they have to be educated into what it is that he is bringing. He’s very knowledgeable, and he’s very serious about what he’s doing, and that puts up a lovely new tone into the whole thing."
So, how do Tricki and Cedric get on?
"Tricki is okay, but the trouble is that Cedric is so bouncy and so unsettled that Tricki can’t form a relationship with him. So that obviously affects her. This is the story of how they settle Cedric’s problem."
All Creatures continues on Channel 5.
