All Creatures Great and Small: 3 Things We Can Learn From James & Helen’s Wholesome Romance
For many, summer is the time for relaxation, exploring new places, and perhaps a bit of romance. If you’re the type who also enjoys something new to watch over the summer, the latest adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small offers a little slice of all this and more.
Based on James Herriot’s bestselling memoirs of his veterinary adventures from the 1930s and beyond, the show whisks its audience to the wilds of Yorkshire where rolling hills shimmer like emerald, lambs frolic, and a motley community of farmers work and play heartily. It feels like a simpler time and way of life that invites viewers to relax and escape.
At the center of these idyllic English scenes is the romance between veterinarian James Herriot and Helen Alderson, a farmer’s daughter of great capability, humor, and loyalty. The simple purity and ease of James and Helen’s dynamic lend the show much of its uplifting, wholesome tone. Their relationship also offers valuable takeaways for those investing in (or keeping watch for) their own summer romance.
It may look unrealistically easy for James and Helen, surrounded as they are by beautiful Yorkshire, far removed from the cares of modern life, but I think our own present-day relationships might also feel simpler if we took note of their example in three specific ways.
01 | Sharing & valuing a common community.
Contemporary life encourages individualism even to the point of unhealthy isolation. Autonomy and self are held up as the highest good. Along the way, many forget that we are social creatures, not simply for the occasional drink or dinner, but for deep and meaningful connection throughout life. All Creatures Great and Small reminds its viewers that a supportive community plays a vital role in carrying its people through various seasons.
For James and Helen, their community undergirds their relationship from its beginning and in every subsequent phase. They may act to give the story its relational center, but their tight-knit farming community remains the focus as a whole.
While many current TV dramas dial in almost exclusively on a main romantic relationship, All Creatures offers a fuller picture of a supportive, family-like village that later leads to a happy marriage between James and Helen. They meet because of their community, not separately from it, and they both have established lives within it before they come together.
Then, as their relationship grows, their friends and families do not fall by the wayside. Amidst challenges, their mutual friends and neighbors often give needed insight that they both welcome, and in the happy moments, the community eagerly celebrates with them.
James and Helen stay refreshingly rooted in their circle, and it serves as a valuable reminder of the wisdom and joy to be found in surrounding oneself with wise counsel and support throughout singleness, dating, and marriage.
02 | Honor & honesty.
Helen captivates James almost at first sight with her open humor, dedicated work ethic, and winning smile. So, his heart immediately drops when her childhood friend, Hugh Hulton, waltzes over and slings an arm around Helen (so do ours).
In another modern show, James and Helen would likely start a steamy affair behind Hugh’s back, but All Creatures makes the inspiring case that such behavior would be beneath James and Helen. Though their feelings for each other steadily grow, they also value honorable conduct. While they cannot be together, they consistently treat Hugh with respect and resist rash impulses.
Their greatest test of strength comes on a snowy Christmas Eve night, when Helen accompanies James to help a young mother dog deliver her puppies at a farmhouse high up in the remotest hills of Yorkshire. In the flushed aftermath of happy success, and as the darkness and cold shroud them, throwing caution to the wind and confessing all they feel seems so natural.
But in the end, it’s more satisfying to see James simply cover Helen with a blanket and resolve to get her home safely in the morning, like the true gentleman he is.
And because James and Helen pursue such honorable behavior from the beginning, their ongoing relationship only brings increasing satisfaction for the viewer. In keeping with their upright characters, their transparency and gentle kindness with each other feels as refreshing as the rural beauty of their Yorkshire home. Even in moments of misunderstanding, they hear each other out, assume the best of each other, and resolve to work it out.
In a culture that constantly churns out entertainment full of needless relational confusion, James and Helen remind audiences that honesty and virtue are not stifling and unhealthy, but life-giving and freeing.
03 | Loving well & having fun.
I think many scenes in All Creatures Great and Small could stir warmth even in the most pessimistic soul. From the antics of James’s animal patients, to shared laughter and drink by a fire at a day’s close, it reaches out with a bountiful vision of a life fully and purposefully lived.
Within that vision, James and Helen present a compelling picture of how nourishing and beautiful it can be to love another well. As their love grows, they continually outdo one another in bringing needed encouragement or fun to each other’s lives.
When they beam at each other at the end of a lively village dance, or exchange a tender look as Helen publicly praises James’s excellent work, they remind viewers that love is good and nurturing to a soul. Though difficult relationships certainly exist, happy ones often do too, and they are worth seeking.
Every time (there have been many!) I’ve recommended All Creatures Great and Small, the word “wholesome” has usually arisen. The drama remains low stakes, no sly villains roam the background, and, notably, the romance progresses in a fairly uncomplicated manner.
For all our sighs of contentment as James and Helen’s story unfolds, too many of us perhaps also dismiss it as fanciful or unrealistic. But I think our cynicism could use a lesson or two from them. Whether in 1930s Yorkshire or 2022 America, a supportive community, honest virtue, and sincere fun in love will likely always lend a bit of wholesomeness to any relationship.
