Tricki Woo — The Dog Who Became the Most Beloved Character in the Series

There is, statistically speaking, a good chance that Tricki Woo is the reason you are considering booking the All Creatures tour.

The Pekingese with the devoted owner, the spectacular symptoms of dietary excess, and the talent for generating the most elaborate correspondence in the history of veterinary practice has become, across two television adaptations spanning fifty years, one of the most recognisable animal characters in British popular culture. When Herriot's writing is discussed by people who have not read the full books, it is often Tricki Woo they remember.

The real dog was called Bambi. His real owner was a Thirsk woman named Mrs Pumphrey in the books — the fabulously indulgent, magnificently oblivious Mrs Pumphrey, played in the Channel 5 series by Patricia Hodge with a comic precision that is one of the consistent joys of the programme.

Why Tricki works

The Tricki Woo episodes work on two levels simultaneously. On the surface they are straightforward comedy — the dog is impossibly spoilt, the owner is brilliantly misguided, and Herriot's exasperation is expressed with a restraint that makes it funnier than any direct statement could. But underneath this, in both the books and the better television scenes, there is something more: a genuine affection for Mrs Pumphrey and a recognition that the absurd is also human. She loves her dog to a degree that is ridiculous. She is also, simply, a person who loves her dog.

Herriot was very good at this. The comedy in his writing rarely condescends to its subjects. The farmers, the animals, the eccentrics — all of them are observed with affection, not contempt.

Mrs Pumphrey's residence

The Channel 5 series locates Mrs Pumphrey's home in a substantial Dales country house that appears in several episodes. We visit the exterior on our All Creatures tour — the building you have seen on screen, in the landscape of the Dales, with the specific scenes played back on location.

Whether Tricki Woo is likely to appear at the window is a question we are frequently asked. He has not yet done so on any tour. We remain optimistic.

The Mrs Pumphrey letters

One of the small pleasures of the books that translates imperfectly to television is the extended epistolary relationship between Herriot and Mrs Pumphrey — conducted through a series of letters from Tricki Woo himself, written with an eloquence and emotional intelligence well beyond the capacity of most dogs. Herriot reproduces these letters with complete straight-facedness, which makes them funnier than any amount of underlining their absurdity would.

The letters are best read on the train to Windermere, before the tour.

Mrs Pumphrey's grand residence is one of the stops on our All Creatures Great & Small tour. £169 per person. Maximum seven guests.