‘All Creatures Great & Small’: Did Anna Madeley Tease Romance for Siegfried & Mrs. Hall?

All Creatures Great and Small star Anna Madeley just scoffed at the idea of a Siegfried (Samuel West) and Mrs. Hall romance and then turned around and teased that possibility in the same interview. Madeley, who plays Audrey Hall in the charming PBS Masterpiece drama, teased that Mrs. Hall has exciting “freedom” ahead of her now that some family things are in order on the show.

Madeley told Radio Times after Season 6 Episode 4 that there’s no romance forming between her and West’s characters.

“Oh my God, no,” she exclaimed with shock and laughter. “A real friendship has blossomed between the two of them, and they are of a generation so there’s lots of things they can share and understand about one another from their lived experiences. But we just have a lot of fun with these two characters who butt heads a bit.”

She then admitted that the Skeldale veterinarian and the Skeldale housekeeper “do get on and they do have a lot of affection for each other,” adding with a tease, “Where that will lead, you don’t know.”

Now that the war in Europe is over and her veteran son, who was wounded in battle, is settled, Mrs. Hall has moved back to Skeldale for good and returned to her old job. She’s also settled things with her ex-husband, leaving her with newfound freedom.

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“It will be interesting to see where freedom from those concerns will now take her as a person,” Madeley said. “And whether it will allow her to be a little bit… freer.”

A strong section of All Creatures Great and Small viewers have wanted Siegfried and Mrs. Hall to get together for a long time. The show isn’t outright teasing that they are interested in each other, but there are certainly moments that could easily be viewed through a romantic lens in hindsight, should the plot eventually bring them together romantically.

This season has shown how lost Siegfried is without Mrs. Hall living at Skeldale, and how much more miserable he is without her company. In the All Creatures Season 6 premiere, he made a grand gesture in the hopes of getting her to return as their housekeeper.

More than anything, Madeley is concerned with making Mrs. Hall a fully realized character who defies the typical busybody, uptight housekeeper trope.

“We could have very easily come out with the old trope of the bossy woman telling everyone what to do, which a lot of people expect,” Madeley said of the PBS adaptation of James Alfred Wight’s books (he wrote under the pen name James Herriot). “Instead, what’s really refreshing is having a character who has proper story behind her, history that informs who she is.”

“She is a woman of her time with expectations of her life that fit where she’s from,” Madeley added. “She had a difficult time with her husband, and she’s come through something there. She’s had a difficult time with her son, and she’s come through something there. Her life’s been tough.”

Do you think All Creatures should make Siegfried and Audrey get together? Let us know your thoughts in the poll below.

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