Carol Drinkwater, who played Helen Herriot in the first three seasons of the original BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, left the role in 1985, a decision she has since said she would reverse if she could.
A Beloved Character in Two Eras
The current Channel 5 adaptation, which began in 2020, follows vet James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) and his romance with farmer's daughter Helen (Rachel Shenton). The original BBC version aired from 1978 to 1990 and was based on the books of Alf Wight, who wrote under the pen name James Herriot.
In that earlier series, Christopher Timothy played James Herriot, Robert Hardy played Siegfried Farnon, and Peter Davison played Tristan. Helen was portrayed by two actresses: Carol Drinkwater for the first three seasons and Lynda Bellingham for the remaining four.
Leaving the Role
Drinkwater, now 78, was a young actress when she landed the part in 1977. She later wrote in The Daily Express in 2017 that a script editor had warned her she would soon be a household name, a comment she dismissed as ridiculous at the time.
Speaking on the Alan Titchmarsh Show in 2024, she explained her departure: "I'd given everything I could, and I couldn't think where else I could take the role, because there was no more material." She added, "I wasn't leaving in any kind of spiteful thing. The BBC was so angry with me, they put a ban on using me."
She continued, "So they re-cast and another actress got the role. I was terribly upset because it was a wonderful role and would have been very good for me. I must say now, looking back on my career, it's one of the few things in my life I would do differently, and I wouldn't have left."
Life After the Show
After leaving, Drinkwater moved to Australia and wrote her first children's book, The Haunted School, which was later adapted for television. Her acting credits include Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and An Awfully Big Adventure with Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman, as well as Casualty, Peak Practice, Captain James Cook, Bouquet of Barbed Wire, and Golden Pennies.
Earlier this year, she appeared on Alan Titchmarsh's ITV show Love Your Weekend, and in October 2021 she starred in the Channel 5 documentary series A Year In Provence With Carol Drinkwater.
Drinkwater is married to French TV producer Michel Noll, who launched his production company Quartier Latin in 1987. She has no children but is stepmother to his two daughters. She told Yours magazine, "When I was told by doctors that I wasn’t able to have children, I felt incomplete; less than a full woman. I’ve worked my way through that sadness and I realise I have other ways of being creative and nurturing, such as the land and my work."
The new season of All Creatures Great and Small airs Thursdays at 9pm on Channel 5.
