All Creatures Great and Small (2021)

What’s remarkable is how much of that bouncy, vibrant spirit this series is able to retain [of the previous version] while also bucking some of the expectations shows of its kind are usually saddled with.

The script shines with life, its drama far from predictable, it’s pleasures profound.

The cozy, well-known contours of this story are a feature, not a bug. Still, the new series is completely charming on its own, entirely apart from whether you grew up with Herriot as a nostalgia figure. ... There’s always a real chance that he’s not going to be able to help an animal, and All Creatures Great and Small would not work without knowing those stakes. At the same time, the foundation of the series is the rock-solid confidence that Herriot and his colleagues are competent and deeply compassionate.

It is comfort food TV right down to its bones, and it is comfort food TV that works, even for a curmudgeon like me.

The tone is more humorous than not, and even when things are a little rough between the characters, the camera and the soundtrack turn to the landscape for romance. (Even a tractor ride may bring in sweeping strings.) We are practically being instructed to fall in love with these people and this place, and it is an easy instruction to follow.

With fine performances and spectacular cinematography, the new version of All Creatures Great And Small will definitely make fans of Herriot’s books want to go back and revisit them, and it will also bring new fans into the fold.

"All Creatures" doesn't just stop at being pleasant in a wholesomely British kind of way. Coursing through the entire seven-episode series is such an amount of heart, the kind that ensures that goodness and decency inevitably win the day, that it will leave you yearning for better times, especially amid the unprecedented stress the last year has brought us.

There are shows that produce far more plot, action, and tension. But it’s the modesty that makes All Creatures Great and Small so special.

Coming at a time when everything seems stressful and difficult, the new “All Creatures Great and Small” feels as comforting as a cup of tea, as warming as a fleecy blanket on a cold night, and as welcoming as a fire burning indoors while the winter wind blows outside. ... The perfect show for this imperfect moment.

Even as it introduces many of the same stories and character dynamics, the PBS Masterpiece “All Creatures Great and Small” finds key ways to distinguish itself from depictions past, especially as it makes the most of a handsome budget and embraces a welcome, earnest warmth in its storytelling.

Revisiting the world of All Creatures Great and Small felt like meeting old friends. Any viewers missing the classic triumvirate of Robert Hardy, Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison were surely converted by this well-crafted opener, confidently directed by Downton Abbey alumnus Brian Percival.