Nicholas Ralph | |
---|---|
Born | 1990 Cape Town, South Africa |
Education | Nairn Academy |
Alma mater | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2020–present |
Television | All Creatures Great and Small |
Nicholas Ralph is a Scottish actor. He plays James Herriot in the Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece television series All Creatures Great and Small , a remake of the long-running BBC series. [1]
Ralph was born in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Nairn, a town in the Scottish Highlands. He had family in Georgia and Texas, and traveled to the U.S. a couple of times in childhood. [2] As a young man, Ralph played association football, for Ross County from primary school until age 15, then for Nairn County under-19s. [3]
The actor studied drama at Inverness College and then, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The audition for All Creatures Great and Small came two years after graduation. He had previous roles on stage which included plays with the Royal Conservatoire, the Citizens Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland. He also appeared on the BBC Radio Scotland production Kidnapped. [4] [5]
After graduating in 2017, he initially worked in live theatre with the Citizens Theatre for just under a year. His first lead role was with National Theatre of Scotland in a play called Interference. Before starting to film All Creatures Great and Small, Ralph did a tour with a Citizens Theatre/Wonder Fools production: 549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War. [6] [7]
For his role as veterinary surgeon James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small, the actor required training in vet procedures for accuracy in the show. [8] "Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing. Learning how to approach the animal and everything like that. Using the stethoscope on the cow's heart, then lungs, then stomach..." the actor later recalled. [9]
Previously, Ralph had limited exposure to livestock: "I grew up in a small town in the Highlands of Scotland, and where we lived, there was our back garden, a fence, and then a field that was always full of cows and sheep... " [8]
Much of the programme was filmed on location in all kinds of weather. The actor recalled, that "we were in Yorkshire during winter and autumn, and it was freezing, with long, cold, dark days and rainy days, sometimes, so if you had people that were downers, it could really bring everyone down. But we were very fortunate—we had a great group that really pushed each other on and kept each other's spirits high." [10]
Although the author of the Herriot books, Alf Wight, had a "soft, lilting Scottish accent," according to Christopher Timothy who played Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small (1978), [11] the actor was instructed to keep his speech "neutral" for universality when the BBC series was being filmed. That did not apply to Nicholas Ralph when filming the 2020 series for Channel 5; the actor used his genuine Scottish accent. [12]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2020– | All Creatures Great and Small | James Herriot [13] | TV series |
2021 | The Most Reluctant Convert | C. S. Lewis (young man) | Film |
2022 | Prey for the Devil | Father Raymond | Film |
Masterpiece is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions. Many of these are produced by the BBC, but the line-up has also included programs shown on the UK commercial channels ITV and Channel 4.
James Alfred Wight, better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author.
Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett, known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan Farnon in the BBC's television adaptation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small stories.
Nairn is a town and royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around 17 miles (27 km) east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth. It is the traditional county town of Nairnshire.
Christopher Timothy is a Welsh actor. He is known for his roles as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small, Mac McGuire in the BBC soap opera Doctors and Ted Murray in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Wallace Brian Vaughan Sinclair was a British veterinary surgeon who worked for a time with his older brother Donald, and Donald's business partner, Alf Wight. Wight wrote a series of semi-autobiographical novels under the pen name James Herriot, with Sinclair and Donald appearing in fictionalised form as brothers Tristan and Siegfried Farnon. The novels were adapted in two films and television series under the name All Creatures Great and Small. Tristan was portrayed as a charming rogue who was still studying veterinary medicine in the early books, constantly having to re-take examinations because of his lack of application, often found in the pub, and provoking tirades from his bombastic elder brother Siegfried.
Donald Vaughan Sinclair was a British veterinary surgeon who graduated from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 1933. He was made famous as the inspiration for the eccentric character Siegfried Farnon in the semi-autobiographical books of James Herriot, adapted for film and television as All Creatures Great and Small.
Broughton is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is on the A59 road approximately 3 miles (5 km) west of Skipton.
Darrowby is a fictional village in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, which was created by author Alf Wight under the pen name of James Herriot as the setting for the veterinary practice in his book It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet. The book has been adapted for two television series, both titled All Creatures Great and Small. The first was the BBC's 1978 series, which aired between 1978 and 1990. A new adaptation was produced for the 2020 series.
Carol Drinkwater is a British actress, writer and filmmaker residing in France. She portrayed Helen Herriot in the television adaptation of the James Herriot books All Creatures Great and Small, which led to her receiving the Variety Club Television Personality of the Year award in 1985.
All Creatures Great and Small is a 1975 British film, directed by Claude Whatham and starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins as Yorkshire vets James Herriot and Siegfried Farnon. It is based on the first two James Herriot novels : If Only They Could Talk (1970) and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1972).
All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series made by the BBC and based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot. The title aired over seven series, totalling 90 episodes, from 1978 to 1990.
World of James Herriot Ltd is a visitor attraction in the former Thirsk home and veterinary surgery of author James Herriot.
Young James Herriot is a three-part British television drama based on the early life of veterinary surgeon James Herriot. It is part of a series of movies and television series based on Herriot's novels. It features Iain De Caestecker as the title character following his arrival at veterinary college, alongside Amy Manson and Ben Lloyd-Hughes as fellow students Whirly Tyson and Rob McAloon. Directed by Michael Keillor and written by Ann McManus and Eileen Gallagher, it was a Koco Drama production for the BBC which first aired on BBC One in December 2011.
Iain De Caestecker is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying Leopold Fitz/The Doctor in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020). He is also known for his roles in Coronation Street (2001–2003) as Adam Barlow and the films Shell (2012), In Fear (2013), Not Another Happy Ending (2013), Lost River (2014), and Overlord (2018).
Playground Entertainment is a television, film and theatre production company with offices in New York and London, founded in 2012 by Sir Colin Callender, former President of HBO Films.
The All Creatures Great and Small franchise consists of a series of books, movies, and TV series based on books written by James Alfred Wight under the pen name James Herriot based on his experiences as a veterinary surgeon. The books have been adapted for film and television, including a 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small, followed by the 1976 It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet sequel, as well as a long-running BBC television programme of the same title, and a prequel series in 2011, Young James Herriot.
Callum Woodhouse is a British actor.
All Creatures Great and Small is a television series, set in 1937, based upon a series of books about a Yorkshire veterinarian written by Alf Wight under the pen name of James Herriot. The series was produced by Playground Entertainment for Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States.
Cringley House is an historic building in the English village of Askrigg, North Yorkshire. Standing on the south side of Market Place, it was built in the early-to-mid 19th century, and is now a Grade II listed building. Its railings are also of listed status.
passionate anti-fascist campaigner George Watters (based on the real George Watters, played by Robbie Gordon) is compelled by his moral convictions. His friends Jimmy (Nicholas Ralph), Bill (Cristian Ortega) and Jock (Josh Whitelaw)
When the cow gave birth in the show's premiere ... Ralph was primarily working with a prosthetic. "That was a real cow in the wide shots, and then the up close, it was a prosthetic back end of the cow, fully functional and everything"