All Creatures Great and Small Helen star details mishap when handling Clive the Bull

All Creatures Great and Small: Writer discusses ‘change’

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All Creatures Great and Small star Rachel Shenton plays Helen Alderson in the hit Channel 5 series and often gets into a mess with the animals around Skeldale House. One, in particular, being Clive the Bull, who made an impression with the cast and crew for being a little bit of a handful during filming. Rachel opened up about her experience when single-handedly trying to contain the broody animal.

Speaking at the BFI and Radio Times Television and Film Festival, Rachel gave an insight into what it was like working with Clive.

Touching on how the animals fit in on set, Rachel admitted: “It took my breath away. The character of Helen, it was very important that she felt comfortable around all animals because she grew up on a farm.

“So I imagine she has been around huge animals since she was a toddler really, so that was very important, working with the animals is one of my favourite bits of the show.

“The animal handling team are so brilliant when training the animals, we have horses that lie down, turn over when we want them to, cows turning a certain way, dogs sort of doing what they are told to do.

“It is just such a privilege to work up close and personal with them,” she praised.

Rachel went on to reveal her first thoughts when meeting Clive: “The scene with Clive was my second day on the job.

“One of the first scenes I had read, and the directness and assertiveness really jumped off the page, and I was really excited to see it.

“Then I met him, and I was like ‘oh my god. I remember calling my mum and saying his head was like the bonnet of my car, he was huge.

“But he was reared with people, so he was very comfortable around people, and he is a telly bull; he is doing way more work than me.”

Nicholas Ralph, who plays Helen’s on-screen boyfriend, James Herriot, added: “He did so well though because I was up on the wall with a chicken.

“You (Rachel) had to tie the bull up, and we had done it a few times, Clive is a two-tonne bull, the size of a shed.

“So he was walking away, and we had to keep doing it again and again and the last time…,” before handing back to Rachel to explain what had happened.

“Yeah, so we would set him, manoeuvre him round into position, and I had to come out, tie him up, deliver the line and carry on.

“But every time I would come out, deliver the line, and he would start to move, and it is just such a big operation because he is massive, so you would have to walk him all the way around the yard to get him back in position and reset.

“I watched Dean [animal handler] do it, and I thought to myself ‘if this happens again, I am just going to do it so they won’t have to call cut they can keep rolling ‘, and it did it happened again.

“So I thought ‘right’, pulled him round the yard and tied him up myself, and the adrenaline was pumping through my body so much that I almost forgot the next line.

“But managed it, and they never used it in the end either!” she exclaimed.

Season three for the Channel 5 series finally has a release date, and viewers can expect to see the residents of Skeldale House return to their screens on Sunday, January 8, 2023.

James, Helen, Seigfried Farnon (Samuel West), Tristan Farnon (Callum Woodhouse) and Mrs Hall (Anna Madely) will all prepare for the looming second World War.

All Creatures Great and Small seasons 1&2 are available to watch on My5.

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