“The credit must go to Mrs. Hall, as it nearly always should.” A sentence Siegfried Farnon uttered at the Drovers before toasting “to the remarkable Mrs. Hall”, the woman he has lived with for nearly a decade at that point. The entire village joins in without hesitation, knowing fully well what a gem the lady running Skeldale House is.
And while the characters within the show are all very much aware that Mrs. Hall is the pillar of the community and the backbone of Skeldale, episode descriptions and promotional blurbs rarely reflect the true depth of her importance to both the family and the series as a whole. This is not exactly a surprise but rather a confirmation of what has been happening for centuries: a woman’s merit, her achievements and otherworldly accomplishments are often overlooked, in particular when her work is inside her very own home. When she takes care of family, when she cooks, cleans, does the laundry, makes sure the pets are fed, the pantry is stocked, the beds are made, the shoes are clean, the plants are watered, the kitchen is spotless, everyone’s belly is full …
On All Creatures Great and Small, these are just a few of many tasks Mrs. Hall takes on daily. And she usually does so with a smile on her face while at the same time also smoothing the waters between a bickering Siegfried and Tristan. She keeps the house afloat and prepares delicious feasts despite rationing being in effect. And then, at night, she puts on her warden uniform to help keep Darrowby safe. Audrey Hall represents countless women of the 1930s and 1940s across Europe who kept households and communities functioning through crisis, scarcity and grief.
Mrs. Hall’s official title might be “housekeeper”, but she really is the glue of the family, an anchor, Siegfried Farnon’s personal guardian angel, protector of the people. She not only runs Skeldale house, she runs the entire show as without her the series would not exist.
Had she not arrived in Darrowby when she did, had she not replied to Siegfried’s ad in the newspaper, the grumpy vet might have drowned in sorrow and whiskey. But it was not chance that placed her there. It was her own decision to leave her old life behind and to take on the chaos at Skeldale. Audrey Hall doesn’t just keep things from falling apart, she takes action, builds and actively shapes.
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| ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Anna Madeley © Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
If not for her, Tristan would have stayed away from Skeldale during his term breaks, he would have avoided Siegfried as much as possible, their already fragile relationship would only have worsened.
There would be no James as Mrs. Hall was the one who actually hired him. And without James Helen would have stayed at Heston Grange and never become part of the family. There would be no Jimmy and later no Rosie. The sitting room would be full of clutter but empty of people. There would be no Skeldale family. It would just be Siegfried, his whiskey and a big house in complete disarray as was just proven in Season 6, Episode 1.
Siegfried falls apart without Audrey Hall. With her gone he has “lost his marbles. He has gone totally berserk” as Tristan puts it and for once he is not exaggerating when it comes to how insufferable his brother is. Siegfried let the house and surgery fall into disarray. He pushed away the Herriot family, until they moved to Heston Grange and he even failed to meet Tristan at the station when his brother returned from service in Italy.
Remember the last time Tristan returned after being deployed? The brotherly hug at the train station? This time the younger Farnon did not even get a proper “hello” from his brother.
Siegfried is worse than he was when his beloved wife Evelyn died over a decade ago. And it is patently clear that the main reason for that is the absence of Mrs. Audrey Hall from his life. She was his partner, his equal, the one he could always rely on. The one he obviously cannot live without.
However, Mrs. Hall‘s importance extends far beyond her close and gradually unfolding romantic bond with Siegfried. What truly makes Mrs. Hall indispensable is the role she plays for everyone around her, and, by extension, for us as viewers.
Mrs. Hall mothers. Not in a narrow or dismissive sense. Many of us still tend to associate mothering with something domestic, something rather small when in truth it is one of the most powerful and bravest acts there is. To mother is to choose to care, to protect, to keep people alive and steady in a world that feels uncertain. It is resilience, strength, and love in action.
She mothers Tristan, James, Helen, Carmody, her own son Edward of course, and even Darrowby itself. And she steadies Siegfried in a way no one else can. In doing so, she shows us a strength the world desperately needs, especially today.
The way Mrs. Hall embodies mothering has nothing to do with giving birth, conforming to a traditional role, or even gender. It is resilience, compassion, and the tireless determination to make life better for others. Anyone can mother, whether they have children or not. It can be a calling, but it can also be a choice.
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| ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Pictured: Anna Madeley © Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece. All Rights Reserved |
Mrs. Hall is a leader, a healer, a peacemaker. She is the foundation on which Skeldale rests. She decides when to intervene, when to hold back, when to nudge gently and when to stand firm. She is the person stirring the wheel.
All Creatures is an ensemble show, though, sometimes the way it is promoted focuses very much on the character of James Herriot, which certainly made sense when the series started out. He used to be the most well-known character after all. However, this changed over time and in this adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot would not even have made it to the Yorkshire Dales were it not for the remarkable Mrs. Hall.
The presence of every character is equally important and thankfully, the powers that be are very much aware of that. All Creatures has become way more than just the story of James Herriot. It is the story of the Skeldale family. And Audrey Hall is the heart of it, she is the one who holds them all together.
There is no denying that the writing plays a substantial role, however, the most outstanding script would fall flat when translated to screen without the right actors taking on the characters. Anna Madeley brilliantly embodies Audrey Hall, pouring her heart and soul into the character, breathing life into her, understanding her motivation and, most importantly, feeling for her, having compassion for her. Madeley’s performance is defined by her astounding ability to set the tone of a scene – often with only a single glance, a subtle expression or a small gesture. She demonstrated this once again in the Season 5 Christmas Special: Though Mrs. Hall pushed everyone away and spoke very little when her son’s fate was uncertain, her face conveyed a despair so raw it was palpable for the audience how the not knowing (whether her son was dead or alive) was tearing her apart on the inside. Never once did she exaggerate, never did she overdo it.
In the season 6 premiere Madeley delivered with equal depth: the pure joy on her face when she sees Skeldale again, the heartbreak when she decides to return to Sunderland, the surprised, almost shocked expression at the train station when Siegfried finally tells her they want no one else but her. And at the end of the episode the lightness she radiates as she and Siegfried walk toward the bonfire. Madeley does not perform a role, in those moments she simply is. She does her utmost to honor the character of Audrey Hall, and she delivers with remarkable consistency, time after time.
And that is why All Creatures Great and Small could not exist without her. There is no Mrs. Hall without Anna Madeley and there is no Skeldale, no show, without Mrs. Hall.
Don’t miss how Mrs. Hall’s story unfolds! All Creatures Great and Small airs on Thursdays 9pm (GMT+1) on UK’s Channel 5!