Rachel Shenton interview: ‘All Creatures’ star’s hopes for Helen in Season 4
All Creatures Great and Small is back this autumn!
Based on the much-loved collection of stories by author James Herriot, Channel 5’s hit period drama follows the heartwarming and humorous adventures of a young country vet in the Yorkshire Dales.
As we return to Skeldale House in the spring of 1940, there’s change on the horizon for everyone.
Watch the trailer here:
Season 4 premieres in the UK at 9pm on Thursday 5 October on Channel 5, with six brand new episodes airing weekly.
All Creatures Great and Small returns in the US early next year on PBS Masterpiece.
American viewers can catch up on the first three seasons with this free 7-day trial of the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon Prime!
Here, actress Rachel Shenton chats about what’s coming up for her character Helen Herriot, married life with James, the friendship with Mrs Hall, and her new period drama podcast:
Where do we see Helen at the start of the season?
“Helen’s firmly placed in Skeldale at the start this series, very much has her feet under the table there and has found her place. She is obviously missing Tristan and Helen has stepped into the role of helping Siegfried out.
“Trying to make things easier – she quickly learns that that’s not going to work well for her.
“She is very much getting used to her life there despite being apprehensive about moving in last series and trying to work out how it would all work, but now she is very much engrained there.”
And Helen and James are settling in to married life?
“Ah, they’re lovely. We love them. They’re such a good couple. What I’ve loved is marking their journey, we saw them get together and it was very romantic, then they got married and of course, now, the real work begins.
“The courtship has been solidified, and they’re in a really good place. I think that they’re ready to move on to the next chapter in their relationship; to start building and becoming a unit of their own.
“This is the first time that we’ve seen that really – that they’re very much there for each other. It feels less about romance and more about this solid foundation of their union and how they navigate their way through life and what the next steps look like. I like that it’s very real.”
How is Helen feeling knowing James could get called up?
“As much as I don’t think it’s directly affecting their day to day, I think that there’s an underlying feeling all the time, certainly for Helen, of what might come and how this might look in the future.
“I don’t think she can help but do that. She’s built her life with James and now the idea that it could all change is scary for her.
“So, she’s doing the thing that she does best, which is spinning plates and keeping busy and trying not to think about it as much.”
Do you think this affects their plans, potentially starting a family?
“I think at that time, having children just happened quite quickly in these relationships. You got married and had children quickly after.
“It was what was done. I don’t think she’s any exception to that. I think that was very much in her thoughts.
“She’s kind of been a surrogate mum to Jenny for years and that maternal role is one that she finds herself fitting into quite comfortably. Then there’s obviously the reality of that, that James gets called to war and what happens next is almost unthinkable.
“So, is it affecting them? Yeah, it can’t not. I think she’s very conflicted. You see it throughout the series.
“It might flip from “this makes perfect sense to do it now” to “this makes no sense to do it now”. That’s really interesting and felt very real. What’s lovely about the truth is that it’s always complex, and it’s always layered and that’s the reality of this situation.
“Thoughts that James may get called up makes her want to have assurances that she will always have a part of him. But then the reality that he might be called up makes having a part of him terrifying, because he may never come back.
“It’s huge. You can’t even really imagine it now in the world that we live in.”
War is having quite an effect on her community and farmers, how does Helen feel about this?
“I think that is when it really started to get real for Helen. She was of the mindset, as we saw in the previous season, of ‘ it won’t even happen’, as was the popular train of thought around that time.
“It will be over by Christmas. And of course, now we’re in the phoney war. So, as much as we still haven’t seen where it’s going to go and the huge effect of it, it’s very much becoming real when you realise people she has grown up with, they’re not there anymore.
“Things in the village need fixing – things that usually get done by farm hands and younger farmers. You see the effects. I guess that’s when it really starts to become real in this series.
“Last series she was able to push it away and think it’s alright, it might not come to anything but now I think she’s not got any choice but to look at it face on.
“So I think when she thinks about her own life and her future, it feels uncertain and it’s scary. For her family as well – what it might look like for her dad and her sister, for the animals and the realities of that.
“There are domestic animals that aren’t being looked after. There’s a few more turning up at the practice than would usually. I guess it’s like her little pocket of the community and world that she cares about.
“So much has been rocked. So that must have an effect on you.”
Helen is still working as a farmer up at Heston Grange – is she managing to juggle this with Skeldale?
“Oh, I don’t think she’d have it any other way. There’s not another world for Helen. I don’t think she is happy when she’s not busy and needed.
“She likes being that kind of emollient in the Heston Grange house. She thrives in that situation of being busy and spinning plates.”
And then with Tristan away, we see Helen step up and help around the practice. Any butting heads with Siegfried?
“I’ve always really liked the dynamic between Helen and Siegfried because she’s the only one in the house that isn’t employed by him.
“So actually, she doesn’t fear him, fear is a very strong word, but she doesn’t fear him in the same way that the others do. She doesn’t dance around him as much as the others do because she doesn’t need to. And she’s grown up with him.
“She’s known him since she was little. She kind of gets his ways. There’s always an eye roll or a sarcastic comment, which is what’s nice about seeing Helen and Siegfried together.
“There are a few scenes at the start of the series that I can really remember fondly of her trying to help and just getting it wrong.”
And she must be missing Tristan?
“Yes, very much. I think everyone’s missing having Tristan around the house in their own way. Helen and Tristan always shared that mischievous behaviour.
“A bit of a joke about James because he likes to take things very seriously, a bit of an eye roll at Siegfried, that kind of thing. That sort of almost sibling-like banter that they’ve always had.
“And also, James misses his friend and so in turn that affects Helen as well.”
Helen and Mrs Hall are there for each other through tough times this season. Can you tell us a little bit more about their relationship?
“That’s been my favourite part of this series. Seeing their friendship evolve naturally in the right timeframe, because I think the temptation can be as soon as these women meet, they’ll become best friends.
“In reality, they come from really different worlds, there’s an age gap and their backgrounds are very different.
“Yet now they’ve spent time together and have learned that there are so many similarities, actually, and that they really need each other in this series, especially with what is going on in the wider world.
“That’s something that Mrs Hall very much understands because of Edward being called up recently, but also that her husband, Robert, was called up.
“That’s something she’s lived through WW1, she knows it, she understands it. I think Helen really appreciates that and relies on her input at times and they need each other at certain points this series.
“It has been so lovely to see because I don’t think we’ve had that up until now. So, it’s really nice to have somebody that she can lean on and bounce off.
“They’re both in it together. They both deal with Siegfried every day, so they’ve got things in common that are fun. It’s a nice way of binding them together.”
You’ve said before you really like Gerald and Mrs. Hall’s journey. How do you feel about it this season?
“I’m very invested in Mrs Hall’s love life, and so is Helen. I think she really likes matchmaking and seeing people happy and together.
“So, she really takes on that role and enjoys it, and Mrs Hall is no exception. She offers a bit of advice from time to time in this series, which is nice.
“Mrs Hall confides in her about Gerald and their relationship and what’s happening. It takes you on a real journey. I think we get to understand Mrs. Hall a bit more as well this series.”
Of course we have to ask about animals, any funny stories this season?
“There is a gorgeous, fluffy feline addition the series who I get to spend a lot of time with and she has been an absolute joy to work with. Like genuinely there are some tricky scenes that she’s had to do and she’s been amazing.
“I’m very thankful for that. But also, there was also a funny story with Ernie, who plays Jess, when we were all in a serious scene in Skeldale in the living room.
“We’re all sat around, and Mrs Hall has given everybody a scone with cream and jam and everybody’s got one on the side tables.
“We were all engrossed in what the scene was about and at the corner of my eye I just saw Ernie get up and one by one go and take each scone, but no one called cut so he made his way around the room eating all the scones one by one.”
You have also written a new period drama podcast, The Gladstone Girls, based on the potteries in Stoke, where you are from.
How was working on another period piece, albeit slightly more modern from the 70’s? And having Anna Madeley star in it?
“When I was writing it, there was just nobody else that I had in mind for that character. I just think she’s absolutely brilliant. I’m such a huge Anna Madeley fan, professionally and personally.
“So it’s an honour to have her on it. She brings something fresh. Which she does with every role that I watch her in. We have a good laugh with whatever we’re doing and that was a good one.
“It’s radio as well so you don’t have to worry about your face. You just enjoy it and enjoy the character – that was great.”
All Creatures Great and Small is available to watch on PBS Masterpiece via Amazon Prime with a free 7-day trial.