James Herriot's real name was James Alfred Wight. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons' rules ban advertising, so he took his pseudonym from the Birmingham City football club goalkeeper in the 1952 Cup Final.
Although born in Sunderland, England, James Herriot spent the first 23 years of his life in Glasgow, Scotland, and never lost the accent, as can be heard in television interviews. Simon Ward however, plays him as a Londoner.
In the book, Siegfried (Sir Anthony Hopkins) bought the practice in 1932 from an 85-year-old retiree. In this movie, he took it over as a family business in 1927.
Known to the cast and crew as "All Creatures Grunt and Smell".
The film takes place in Yorkshire in 1937.