Funny how some shows manage to meet us exactly where we are, regardless of when their stories are set. Season 4 of PBS Masterpiece's "All Creatures Great and Small” opens in 1940, and at Easter, reminding Northern Hemisphere dwellers in 2024 that warmer days are ahead. Darrowby’s villagers are enjoying each other’s company when they’re beset by a small menace, a local boy determined to make mischief.
James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) knows small creatures misbehave when they’re hurt but puts himself in harm's way nevertheless – not for the boy, initially, but for his pet. Herriot and his boss Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West) have a knack for diagnosing illnesses in animals and healing the humans who care for them in the process.
