What happened to the real Siegfried Farnon from All Creatures Great and Small?

Siegfried Farnon is the eccentric owner of Skeldale House veterinary practice in the Channel 5 adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small. The first season of the escapist family drama has just made its way to Netflix.

The show was inspired by the series of books written by Yorkshire vet Alf Wight, under the pen name James Herriot. His books were about his life and times as a countryside vet.

Many of the characters in the All Creatures books and subsequent shows were inspired by real people, including Siegfried, who was based on Alf's real boss, Donald Sinclair.

Actor Samuel opened up about how his character is portrayed in the series, and whether his backstory supports Donald's real-life experiences. When asked about whether his backstory included his relationship with his late wife, he said he was pleased with how the character was represented.

Here is all you need to know about what happened to the real Siegfried Farnon, including details of his marriage.

Donald Sinclair bought his veterinary practice in 1939 but the following year he began war service in the Royal Air Force.

Because of this, he hired Alf Wight to run the practice. However, as he had lied about his age, Donald was asked to return back to his day-to-day profession as a vet.

According to the Irish Times, Donald was not happy with his fictional counterpart in Alf's books, calling it a "real test" of their friendship.

Robert Hardy, who played the role of Siegfried in the original BBC, met the real Donald and claimed he was unaware of his own eccentricities.

In 1995, Donald died at home two weeks after the death of his wife Audrey, to whom he had been married for more than 50 years.

Speaking to Masterpiece about his character, actor Samuel explained: "In the original books, Siegfried is a bachelor, but I was very pleased that they decided to go with what happened to the real Donald Sinclair, which was that his wife had died.

"I thought that was a proper piece of homework that made it much more interesting, for Siegfried to have that history, that backstory.

"It’s much more interesting to play somebody who was quite a beau in his youth, but had a deeply loving, and I think sexually very happy, relationship with his wife, which then ended without children.

"He’s felt a bit blocked ever since. He’s still in love with his wife, and she’s only four years dead. None of that really appears in the series—I’m talking about two things that happened four years, or 19 years, before the series begins—but it is all underneath.

"It’s not a Chekov play, but actually it becomes important; it’s got to be believable. It’s got to be textured on the same level. It’s got to matter."

All Creatures Great and Small season 5 returns later this year on Channel 5. Season 1 is available to watch on Netflix