‘All Creatures Great and Small’: Siegfried Makes a Big Emotional Confession to Mrs. Hall

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for All Creatures Great and Small Season 6 Episode 1, “Gathering the Flock.”]

Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West) is a mess without Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley). That much was clear in the Season 6 premiere of All Creatures Great and Small on Sunday, January 11, on PBS. The Masterpiece drama’s season premiere saw the war in Europe end and showed the distance between Siegried and Audrey that developed over the four-year time jump. Audrey spent this time away caring for her son, Edward, who was injured in the war, and that became an unexpectedly permanent change. Siegfried struggled greatly in her absence but wouldn’t admit it, and the denial only made his life messier, both literally and metaphorically. He asked Mrs. Hall to return in a grand gesture that fans who ship these two characters together will surely find romantic.

Lots had changed in the time since the end of Season 5. The war wasn’t over when the episode began, but Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) was home from Italy and denying how much he was struggling emotionally with his wartime experience. His fellow soldier, Arthur (who’s married to the town’s bartender, Maggie), also didn’t come home when he was supposed to, causing another layer of concern.

James (Nicholas Ralph) and Helen (Rachel Shenton) now have two children, and they had long been concerned about the state of messy disarray that Siegfried let Skeldale House fall into without Mrs. Hall. James and Helen agreed they wouldn’t push a solution by asking Audrey to return, but James eventually pulled the trigger and asked her to come back against his agreement with Helen. It didn’t land well with Siegfried once he realized that Audrey’s return was brought on by others’ concerns.

Mrs. Hall left to care for her son after he returned from war, but she “didn’t think it would be permanent,” she told Siegfried. She’s a grandmother now after Edward got with a woman named Betty. Siegfried was invited to the wedding but was too “busy” to attend. Tending to Skeldale was too overwhelming without her. He tried hiring a new housekeeper, but admitted that “none of them cut the mustard or any other condiment for that matter.” But he tried to brush it off as a “blessing.”

Later, as they were looking for a lost sheepdog, Siegfried let his real anger about Audrey’s absence show to James. He was mad at Audrey for leaving and resents her attempts to help now that she’s back, even if temporarily. He was angered by the idea that he’s struggling to take care of himself and mad at James for calling her.

“She left us! What was I supposed to do? Pretend to be happy? Pretend to be fine?” Siegfried said.

“If you keep pushing people away, eventually, they will go away,” James warned, exasperated.

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A shepherd lost his flock and his sheepdog he’d had for 10 years. She was his partner, much like Audrey was Siegfried’s for a decade at Skeldale. The shepherd said he was too hard on his pet and that he was in denial about it. Siegfried gave him a knowing look, showing that he was thinking about Audrey and his refusal to address his feelings about her absence, as well as how that denial made him treat her upon her return. The herd and the sheepdog miraculously returned, but the dog was injured. Returning to Skeldale for emergency treatment gave Siegfried the chance to apologize to Audrey before she left town disappointed, but she was already gone when they arrived.

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Siegfried rushed to the train station as the radio announcement of the end of the war rang throughout the town. Audrey was on the train platform, so she didn’t hear the celebrations inside. Siegfried saw her on the other side of the tracks and cried out, but she couldn’t see or hear him. In a grand gesture, he ran across the tracks to make it to Audrey before she got on her train. He yelled “Mrs. Hall” a few times, but she didn’t hear him. It wasn’t until he yelled “Audrey” that she stopped in her tracks.

“We tried to find a replacement,” he said, out of breath. “It could never work. No one could ever work.”

“Because they’d never put up with your nonsense,” Audrey said, as Siegfried quickly replied, “Because they’re not you.”

“I understand you might have to live your life. If that’s not here with us, well, that’s up to you. But you should know that we would like it to be,” he told her. She realized the war was over, they embraced, and then the scene cut to the celebrations back in town.

The episode ended with the reveal that Audrey stayed in town and plans to come back permanently. Will Siegfried and Audrey finally get together this season now that the former has had a taste of what good can happen when you actually talk about how you feel?

All Creatures Great and Small, Sundays, 9/8c, PBS