I love all creatures great snd small., I haven't read any of the books , ( going to put them on my list ) but I do remember the 1970s series , i was a teen , my one criticism is the mis cast of Helen or at least how she plays this part , she seems quite brash ,with her beer swigging , I can't quite envision James marrying her ..I do love Samuel West as Sigfried , I can even cope even cope with the rest of the cast ... , I feel I want to skip over Helens parts , why oh why did they think that OK.im not taking anything away from the actor , I'm sure she is very capable of playing it truer to what Helen was . I will continue to watch it , because it's the sort of gentle TV I like