But he still had this strong belief that we were an ensemble, everyone a co-star. Since Chris was playing James Herriot, he was the star. At a meet-and-greet with the other actors, Chris walked in, took one look at me and said: “Too tall, recast.” I was afraid the producer might take another look and say: “Yes, he is.” The book describes my character Tristan Farnon as short and dark, the absolute opposite of me.
But for years after, my agent was constantly shouting down the phone: “He’s an actor, not a vet!” Peter Davison, actor I knew if you made a series of that, with the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales as scenery, it couldn’t fail. People reading them would laugh out loud.
You have to remember: I grew up in the 1950s, the era of cowboy movies and rock’n’roll.Įvery book you saw on a bus or a train at that time was by Herriot. Send his wife some flowers – and recast.” So I perfected this stupid sort of John Wayne walk. It should have been longer but I heard that the BBC hierarchy had said: “Oh, dreadful news about Chris. Halfway through shooting the first series, I broke my leg and I was out of action for nine weeks. ‘Everything in the show was real’ … Robert Hardy gets to grips with a cow in 1978.
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