All Creatures Great and Small's Rachel Shenton reveals touching on-set moment with co-star

Fans were delighted when All Creatures Great and Small actress Rachel Shenton revealed a touching detail about an improvised moment with her character Helen on set.

Speaking on the Masterpiece Studio podcast, Rachel recalled a moment when Helen was feeling isolation and fear of change after moving in with her husband, the vet James Herriot.

"She [Helen] starts off and she feels great, this is new, feeling my feet a bit but it's going to be great and she's quite looking forward to it, she knows everyone, she grew up in the village, she knows them very well but then it changed to 'I'm not sure if I can do this actually'.

"Maybe this isn't working and there was probably a real moment of 'oh my goodness is this what it's going to be like now?' And again, I just think that's very real," said Rachel, explaining how much she personally related to her character's struggles.

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Mrs. Hall, played by Anna Madeley, is on hand to share kind words and reassurance, and Rachel revealed how the duo share a spontaneous hug.

"The hug wasn't scripted," Rachel explained. "I think a clink of glasses was scripted if I remember correctly but then we felt like a hug was right and we're glad that we did."

This news comes as Rachel is set to star alondside Anna in a new show called Gladstone Girls, a few decades on from the world of All Creatures Great and Small, where women working in a pottery factory strive to preserve their cherished factory traditions in the face of challenges from a new boss.

Fans were delighted when the popular Channel 5 show was renewed for a further two series, with the broadcaster promising that the series would "continue to bring the stories of James Herriot to life as we return to Darrowby to rejoin our unconventional much loved Skeldale Family and the colourful ensemble of farmers, animals and townsfolk living in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1940s."

Season 5 filming has just wrapped, and preparations for the Christmas special are well underway in the Yorkshire village of Grassington, which transforms into Darrowby after some light touches by the film crew.