'All Creatures Great & Small' 2025 Christmas Special Brings "Comfort & Joy"
Merry Bloody Christmas to 'All Creatures Great & Small' 2025 Christmas Special, "Comfort & Joy."
The 2025 Christmas Special of All Creatures Great & Small finds the inhabitants of Skeldale House hard at work. Audrey is in the process of negotiating a turkey, because if she doesn’t get the real thing, the household will dine on the government-suggested Murkey*. Jimmy is practicing his role as the Angel Gabriel for the town nativity play, but mispronounces “Heaven” as “Hebden” (the name of a nearby town).
(*“Murkey” was a real mock turkey of moulded sausage meat with parsnips masquerading as legs. Wartime food was very enthusiastic about root vegetables.)
Siegfried escapes the chaos to reacquaint himself with Mrs. Stokes’s goat Hilda, who ate part of a neighbor’s laurel wreath, which is poisonous to goats. Siegfried finds no obvious symptoms and winds up dosing Hilda with tea because the tannin should help; the humans enjoy some brandy. They compare notes on how they’ll spend the big day – Mrs. Stokes is having a “Farmer’s Christmas” (slang for a normal day), whereas Siegfried will be hosting a houseful of the usual suspects. A crowded house at Christmas isn’t something that can be counted on indefinitely, Mrs. Stokes warns him; he should get married. As she’s scolding him, Hilda decides to have other ideas, escaping from her barn through a broken door.
At Skeldale House, Helen is sick with a bad cold, and James hustles her off to bed and prepares to take over her Christmas tasks. Mrs. Pumphrey is on her way, after yet another unfruitful attempt by Tricki to become a father. She’s heard there are hormone injections that could help, and while James is reluctant to subject the dog (and his owner) to the side effects, he agrees to inject Tricki as soon as he’s got a free moment.
While Tristan’s out, Dorothy (Maimie McCoy), Audrey’s old friend from their WWI WRNS days, returns for the first time since Season 1. Viewers will remember that Dorothy left for Malta after a near romantic miss with Siegfried, who is, of course, flustered, and looks down to discover Hilda ate the end of his tie. She’s moved back to Yorkshire, where her son now lives. He hurries off, but she follows and asks if he’ll drive her home. He finally gives in, explaining that he has a barn door to mend, but that he can take her home afterward.
Siegfried is concerned that Hilda still isn’t eating, despite having no further symptoms. While he mends the barn door, Mrs. Stokes invites Dorothy into the kitchen for tea and shares stories of her former life as a music hall star (before she married a farmer). Mrs. Stokes whispers approvingly to Siegfried as he and Dorothy leave, “That’s a good ‘un.”
Tristan wanders down to the pub to talk to Maggie, who’s spending her first Christmas after hearing of her husband’s death. She doesn’t have any idea about where Tristan could get a turkey or goose at short notice, but the pub is sponsoring a darts contest to win a turkey. With at least one skilled darts player (Audrey), Tristan decides Skeldale House should form a team as he promises Maggie a Christmas tree for the pub.
At the community nativity play rehearsal, we meet the Ainsley kids again – Lucy (Libby Falkingham), Bobby (Ralph Falkingham), and Mabel (May Kelly). James is in charge of the chaos – some are Samuel West’s real-life children! – And naturally, everything goes wrong. Baby Jesus’s head falls off, a pet rabbit with sore eyes joins the cast, and Jimmy is still mispronouncing Heaven. However, he also gets to deliver one of the best lines in the episode: “Dad, the Virgin Mary needs the toilet.”
Tristan fails to find a tree for the pub before closing time, and after a light bit of breaking and entering to liberate one, he and Charlotte both admit they aren’t really into the holidays this year. Tristan is upset by the insistence that Christmas will somehow be the best ever because the war is over; he knows it won’t, but at least he can talk to her about it. After some initial difficulties, such as a broken saw, they begin to enjoy the experience, their depression lifting. They say “I love you” to each other for the first time and spot an early snowdrop, a symbol of spring and better times to come.
Audrey checks whether Siegfried invited Dorothy, another darts expert, to the pub for the darts contest. When he admits he hasn’t, she advises him to seize the moment: “What if you spend your whole life looking for something that doesn’t exist and miss what’s right under your nose?” But then, the phone rings, and it’s Mrs. Stokes, with the news that Hilda has become worse.
The goat lies on Mrs. Stokes’s lap, unable to stand, and after an inspection of the trash, Siefried realizes it’s too late for surgery, and they should not let her suffer any more. Mrs. Stokes sings as Hilda fades away, Footprints in the Snow (from her music hall repertoire, and also popularized here by Bill Monroe).
A bad rehearsal means a good performance, and we get one, since apparently it was ground zero for a light flu outbreak among the kids that decimated the cast for the evening. After accepting that Tricki will never have children, Mrs. Pumphrey stages the nativity play with whoever is available at Skeldale House. James narrates, Siegfried plays the piano, and even the dogs have roles. One king from the east brings three gifts, Jimmy still declares he’s an angel from Hebden and waves around a toy sword, and Tricki makes himself comfortable in Baby Jesus’s crib. Even Helen comes downstairs to watch, and discovers the cake she made for Jimmy’s birthday has been lovingly decorated, one of the tasks delegated to James (those surgeon’s hands!). Mrs. Pumphrey suggests James should write stories after hearing his eloquent narration. Siegfried, meanwhile, has just made a significant phone call.
The Drovers’ Arms is heaving with excitement about the darts contest. Audrey and the team are up against a local darts champion who initially takes the lead.
Dorothy arrives and finds herself under a bunch of mistletoe with Siegfried, who tells her he missed her. They both laugh as they remember the parasite lecture he gave her when they first met, under another bunch of mistletoe. Audrey sees them as they kiss and fires off a dart that gives the winning score to Skeldale House. The two women hug, and, disappointingly, it seems Audrey is gracefully removing herself from Siegfried’s orbit.
The Skeldale House team receives its prize in an unexpected form. The turkey is very much alive and wandering about, and everyone winces as Jimmy names him Rudolph and announces he’s going to be a pet.
Maggie gives a short, emotional welcome speech to everyone and acknowledges that, for the first time since the war began, they can have Christmas lights again. But it’s more than an end to the blackout, Tristan announces. As he promised Maggie, he declares a toast to all those who didn’t come home:
Let’s hope their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Let’s hope it means the world doesn’t go down this dark road again. ... Good tidings, comfort and joy.
Or, as Skeldale House tradition demands, Merry Bloody Christmas! And enjoy the Murkey!
All six seasons of All Creatures Great & Small are available to stream on PBS Passport for members. The series is renewed through Season 8 and is expected to return in 2027.
