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Post by primsong on Sept 6, 2009 14:56:57 GMT
I found a lovely little documentary on youtube about it - how they wanted a 'big name' to play James Herriot and ended up with Christopher Timothy who was a complete unknown at the time... then Christopher was hit by a car after only filming six eps and they tried to hand his role to Peter who refused to take it. Thankfully the director ignored the Beeb's instructions to drop Christopher and recast and just rewrote scripts to make it so he didn't have to move around very much for a while. He was almost too much of a success, as he said he couldn't land another television role for eight years after All Creatures as everyone thought he was really a vet, just acting, not an actor pretending to be a vet, and they don't hire vets for non-veterinary acting roles. Peter was their other "unknown" who said his audition went horribly, that he lied about drinking and smoking (he did neither, but Tristan did) and then spilled coffee all down himself and onto the script while reading - but as he said, that turned out all right in the end because after looking at 50 guys, the one that stood out to them was the one that spilled the coffee, lol... And so Peter not only got a good role on a television programme, he got to know John Nathan-Turner who was helping produce the show. He also got to learn things like how to stick your arm up inside a cow, lol....
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Post by clocketpatch on Sept 6, 2009 15:38:41 GMT
I really, really want to see this show. I was a big fan of the James Harriot books back in the day, never mind that half of them start with his arm inside of a cow (just the thing for impressionable young children to read eh? I figured out pretty early on as a result that I most definitely DID NOT want to be a vet)
But Tristan was always my favourite character, and that combined with Peter Davison... I can only imagine the subsequent awesome.
That coffee story is hilarious by the way, oh the small things that change the course of history and lives...
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lostspook
Auton Daisy
(Icon made by bibliophile1887)
Posts: 503
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Post by lostspook on Sept 6, 2009 15:52:10 GMT
I tried to reply to this: it went Cool! How interesting! Waffly stuff about watching All Creatures when you. Waffly stuff about Peter Davison extras on New Beginnings boxset, mostly involving Sue Lawley. But I can't recapture the moment. I think I know why though - I bet you were adding the two lovely pics as I posted! Well, either that or I've got myself banned already. *here goes*
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Post by johne on Sept 6, 2009 16:21:00 GMT
Going cross-thread a moment, Google Image Search appears to be remarkably deficient in pictures of PD as Lance Fortescue. I could only find one, here.
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lostspook
Auton Daisy
(Icon made by bibliophile1887)
Posts: 503
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Post by lostspook on Sept 6, 2009 16:33:10 GMT
Going cross-thread a moment, Google Image Search appears to be remarkably deficient in pictures of PD as Lance Fortescue. I could only find one, here. If I was a clever person, I could get you some. I'm not, though.
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Post by Abbyromana on Mar 3, 2010 21:30:47 GMT
I really, really want to see this show. I was a big fan of the James Harriot books back in the day, never mind that half of them start with his arm inside of a cow (just the thing for impressionable young children to read eh? I figured out pretty early on as a result that I most definitely DID NOT want to be a vet) But Tristan was always my favourite character, and that combined with Peter Davison... I can only imagine the subsequent awesome. That coffee story is hilarious by the way, oh the small things that change the course of history and lives... I highly recommend it too you, CP. I've seen the first season and it was quite enjoyable. I know I've occasionally found BBC America releases of it some electronic stores (Best Buy, Walmart, Target) or bookstores (Borders, Barnes & Nobles), so you might want to look around and see. Otherwise, I could post some on Livestream for you to watch, if you'd like. We could even make a night of it, if you'd like.
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