John Palmer

Having just finished watching the first series of the new program I can truly say I am very upset by this remake. The casting is terrible with two notable exceptions. Steven Blakely as Mr Foyle, the obnoxious organiser of the Darrowby fair was superb and Triki Wu did a fine job as Mrs Pumphrey s dog. All the rest lack any sense of realism of The Dale's in the 1930's. A trip to Thirsk to see Alf White's actual house ( James Herriot was his nom de plume), now open to the public, shows how things actually were. The new plot lines are pitiful. With no evident reason Helen actually leaves her groom at the altar after neither James nor her had shown any love interest. .

Frankly disappointed. I have every recording the Beatles ever made so it's not like I don't like the Fab Four and yes I'm a Boomer. The main plot seemed to morph into a silly romantic, very predictable soap, whereas it should have focussed on the weird situation that was the main premis of the movie. The musical renditions were great, but the rest was pretty bad. Sorry but it doesn't come close to Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman.