Nicholas Ralph (born 13 April 1990 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

) is a Scottish actor. He plays

James Herriot James Alfred Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author. Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939, returning to En ...

in the Channel 5 and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

'' television series '' All Creatures Great and Small'', a remake of the long-running BBC series.

Personal life

Ralph was born in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and grew up in

Nairn Nairn (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland Council council areas of Scotland, area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nair ...

, a town in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. He had family in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and traveled to the U.S. a couple of times in childhood. As a young man, Ralph played association football, for Ross County from primary school until age 17, then for Nairn County under-19s. The actor studied drama at Inverness College and then, at the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

. The audition for ''All Creatures Great and Small'' came two years after graduation. He had previous roles on stage which included plays with the Royal Conservatoire, the Citizens Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland. He also appeared on the BBC Radio Scotland production ''Kidnapped''. After graduating in 2017, he initially worked in live theatre with the

Citizens Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and playwright in residence Paul Vincent Carroll is based in Glasgow, Scotland, as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat ...

for just under a year. His first lead role was with

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

in a play called ''Interference.'' Before starting to film ''All Creatures Great and Small'', Ralph did a tour with a Citizens Theatre/Wonder Fools production: ''549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War''.

''All Creatures Great and Small''

For his role as veterinary surgeon James Herriot in ''All Creatures Great and Small'', the actor required training in vet procedures for accuracy in the show. "Straight off the bat with our on-set vet adviser Andy Barrett, we were up close and personal with horses, sheep, kind of going through the procedures and things that we would be doing. Learning how to approach the animal and everything like that. Using the stethoscope on the cow's heart, then lungs, then stomach..." the actor later recalled. Previously, Ralph had limited exposure to livestock: "I grew up in a small town in the Highlands of Scotland, and where we lived, there was our back garden, a fence, and then a field that was always full of cows and sheep... " Much of the programme was filmed on location in all kinds of weather. The actor recalled, that "we were in Yorkshire during winter and autumn, and it was freezing, with long, cold, dark days and rainy days, sometimes, so if you had people that were downers, it could really bring everyone down. But we were very fortunate—we had a great group that really pushed each other on and kept each other's spirits high." Although the author of the Herriot books, Alf Wight, had a "soft, lilting Scottish accent," according to

Christopher Timothy Christopher Timothy (born 14 October 1940) is a British actor and narrator. He is known for his roles as James Herriot in '' All Creatures Great and Small'', Mac McGuire in the BBC One daytime soap opera '' Doctors'' and Ted Murray in the BBC ...

, who played Herriot in '' All Creatures Great and Small'' (1978), the actor was instructed to keep his speech "neutral" for universality when the BBC series was being filmed. That did not apply to Nicholas Ralph when filming the 2020 series for Channel 5; the actor used his genuine Scottish accent.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph, Nicholas 21st-century Scottish male actors Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors Living people 1990 births South African emigrants to the United Kingdom