The Yorkshire Vet in Thirsk… The Extraordinary Connection to James Herriot
If you’re a fan of The Yorkshire Vet on Channel 5, you might already know that the show is filmed in and around Thirsk, North Yorkshire. But what many viewers don’t realise is just how deep the connection between The Yorkshire Vet and James Herriot really goes.
This isn’t just a case of two beloved Yorkshire television series sharing the same beautiful landscape. This is a story of a living, unbroken professional legacy – one that stretches from the 1940s all the way to your television screen today.
Peter Wright and the Man Behind James Herriot
Peter Wright, one of the stars of The Yorkshire Vet, didn’t just happen to end up in Thirsk. He trained as a vet under Alf Wight himself – the real James Herriot – at the original Skeldale Veterinary Centre on Kirkgate in Thirsk.
Think about that for a moment. The man you watch caring for animals across the Yorkshire countryside every week on Channel 5 learned his craft from the very same vet whose stories inspired one of the most beloved television series in British history.
It is a connection that makes Thirsk unlike anywhere else in the country. And it is a connection that only the World of James Herriot can claim.
Julian Norton, Another Chapter in the Thirsk Story
Julian Norton, Peter’s co-star on The Yorkshire Vet, has also made Thirsk his home. Together, Peter and Julian have kept the spirit of Herriot’s Yorkshire alive in the most authentic way imaginable – not through television recreations or museum exhibits, but through the daily reality of veterinary practice in the same town, among the same farming communities, in the same landscape that Alf Wight wrote about so warmly.
A Photo Worth a Thousand Words
When Peter and Julian visited the World of James Herriot recently, they stopped to pay their respects to the bronze statue of Alf Wight in our garden – the memorial that stands at the heart of the museum as a tribute to the man who started it all.
Seeing the two stars of The Yorkshire Vet standing alongside the statue of their predecessor is one of those moments that reminds you why Thirsk is such a special place. The past and the present, side by side, in the garden of the house where it all began.
Visit The Yorkshire Vet Country – The World of James Herriot in Thirsk
If The Yorkshire Vet has brought you to Thirsk – or if you’ve always loved James Herriot and want to experience both stories in one visit – the World of James Herriot is the place to start.
Step inside the original home and surgery of Alf Wight at 23 Kirkgate, explore the rooms where the real James Herriot lived and worked, and discover the remarkable story that connects one of Britain’s greatest writers to one of its most popular television shows.
Peter Wright walked these streets. Julian Norton knows this town. And now you can too.
Open seven days a week. Tickets from £5. Book at worldofjamesherriot.com.
