We just watched the first episode of season 4 and were commenting on how much older everyone looked. Then there's a new Helen, (a big disapointment over the old Helen), and then at the end there are these children! Not a mention of the war either, did I miss something?
Eric
As far as I know, the series stopped at the end of the 3rd season (with the two Christmas Specials), but because of the huge interest of the audience, they decided to continue the show. Naturally some time has gone since the 3rd season, that´s why we have a new Helen, they all look older and have kids apparently without a mention .
"You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing.You shouldn't have been that sentimental."
What do you mean without a mention? This all happened in the specials of '83 and '85!
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There's no extra episode in series 3. The men come back from the war in the Christmas special of '83. A great special by the way.
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Yes indeed! You missed the two Christmas specials broadcast in 1983 and 1985, available on dvd. At the beginning of the 1983 special, we see James returning from the war, and the episode deals with the difficulties he faces in readjusting to his old life.
The reason for the gap was that by the end of the 3rd series, they had pretty much used up all the material from the books, with the remainder being used in the two specials. Herriot's material covering the war was skipped because it wouldn't have been set in Darrowby or feature anyone other than James. However, the success of the specials convinced the BBC that the public still wanted more, so the producers approached James Herriot (Alf Wight) for permission to write more episodes (until then only material from the books were allowed), with him providing some of the storylines, which eventually became his final book, 'Every Living Thing'. Season 4 is circa 1950, so the ageing of the characters is generally consistent (although Jimmy and Rosie age a bit faster in the later years).
Carol Drinkwater plays Helen in the two specials. And although most people seem to dislike Helen V2, I have a lot of time for Lynda Bellingham, who I feel plays the character closer to the real Helen as described in the biographies. Having said that, there's bound to be better chemistry between Christopher Timothy and Carol Drinkwater, given they had an off-screen relationship. :)