- It was funny doing the time jump, 'cause we normally, like one series ends and it goes straight on.

So there might be a passage of a few months, some lambs have been born or something.

(laughing) (orchestral music) - At the beginning of series six, it's three years later.

- And we now find ourselves in 1945.

- Personally, I was really excited by the time jump.

- It was quite odd to have the time jump as an actor, because you sort of wanna know the ins and outs of what the characters have been up to for three years.

- Your dispatches from the front were one of my few sources of entertainment.

We got a sneaky little document before we get the first scripts through, so we knew a little bit.

And then you get the first scripts, and that's just hugely exciting.

This place is a state.

I'm really struggling without Mrs.

H. There's only so much I can do.

- As an actor, you want to know what's happened all through that time and imagine what that's done and then imagine what meeting up again is gonna be like on the other side of that.

- It's good to see you again.

- You too.

- I think it's a really good idea to move series six to after the war.

There's a reason why James Herriot didn't set these books in the war.

He deliberately, although he wrote them after the war, set them beforehand.

And because we've been lucky enough to be successful, we've continued into the war, which gives it some reality.

But also, the war becomes the biggest character.

It becomes the biggest antagonist.

And the trouble is that when you're in a war, all you can think about is that it's never going to end.

- [Nicholas] The war is always rumbling on in the background.

- It made complete sense.

It was the absolute right decision.

This show, this show isn't a war show.

Whilst it was amazing to have some series in wartime and to see the effect that that had, we did want to get back to what the show is really about, which is people and doing nice things for animals.

- Get back to some of those wonderful themes and storylines.

- Love and friendship and community, and looking after each other.

- The wonderful eccentric people of the Dales, the clients and the animals, and the gorgeous scenery.

- In terms of character, it means that you can put your characters into new situations where they're surprised and worried and undermined by things other than the war.

- Goodness me.

- For us as actors, I think it was just hugely exciting.