Callum Woodhouse and Nicholas Ralph have revealed that cats are the "worst" and a "bit of a nightmare" to work with while filming All Creatures Great and Small.
The new series of the period drama recently launched on Channel 5, moving into a prosperous post-war era in the Yorkshire Dales. So far, James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) has been tasked with looking after a cat named Alfred, who belongs to the local sweet shop owner, Geoff Hatfield (Bruce Alexander).
Cats 'notoriously the worst' to film with
The spoiled gray tabby cat fell ill and needed an emergency operation carried out by James and his boss, Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West), to save his life, and the operation was a success. In the latest episode of season seven, called The Owl and the Pussycats, which airs on Thursday (October 1), it's Tristan's turn to treat felines when Charlotte Beauvoir (Gaia Wise) requires help with some wild cats.
Speaking to Screen Time about working with animals on the period drama ahead of season seven, Nicholas Ralph expressed his passion for his storyline, which involved Alfred the cat, but said cats are the "worst" to film with.
Nicholas said: "I'm sure you all know by now that cats are the best animals to work with, they're trainable", he joked, "No, cats are notoriously the worst, but the greatest when it comes to the scenes."
Trainer's insight on cats vs dogs
He added, "They are pretty untrainable, so we went through the usual rigmarole, but Alfred the cat was a gorgeous cat to have on set, and he was lovely to have around. It's a great story from the books."
"Echoing what Nick said, cats are a bit of a nightmare to work with", added Tristan Farnon star Callum Woodhouse.
He added: "I remember the animal trainer in the show talking about it, saying that dogs are incredibly easy to train because you can literally never ever fill a dog with food. Once they're full, they'll just be sick and be like, 'Cool, I can have more treats'."
"Whereas a cat, once it gets full, they're like 'no, I'm good'. And so you can't train them anymore. They just don't want any more treats. It's like, no, I'm full."
Two kittens play wild cats in new episode
Callum went on to confess: "So they are very difficult to work with. I'm also not the biggest lover of cats, just in general. I'm just a dog person through and through."
Speaking about his wild cats episode, Callum confirmed the parts were played by two kittens. He added, "Luckily, I was filming those scenes with Gaia, who is a massive cat person, so don't worry, those cats got a lot of love from Gaia. It's a really great storyline, though. I think it's going to turn out really well."
All Creatures Great and Small airs Thursday at 9pm on Channel 5.
