Jeremy Swift Introduces New ‘All Creatures Great & Small’ Character & Reveals His Connection to Mrs. Hall

Ted Lasso‘s Jeremy Swift joins the cast of All Creatures Great and Small Season 5 in an all-new role: Mr. Bosworth, a longtime resident of the Yorkshire Dales who’s getting his time in the spotlight in the new episodes.

The PBS Masterpiece drama returns for its fifth season on Sunday, January 12, at 9/8c. Set in the spring of 1941 in England, the season begins with Helen (Rachel Shenton) getting the hang of motherhood with James (Nicholas Ralph) away at RAF Abingdon. With World War II now fully underway, Siegfried (Samuel West) is taking up the slack at the surgery, Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley) and Helen are considering their contributions within the community, and Carmody (James Anthony-Rose) is eager to step up. But Tristan’s (Callum Woodhouse) surprise return won’t be quite as straightforward as Siegfried had hoped.

Mr. Bosworth takes on a leadership role as an air raid warden this season, a job that connects him with Mrs. Hall, a character who has long had a will-they, won’t-they dynamic with West’s Siegfried. Mr. Bosworth and Mrs. Hall form a relationship over the course of the season, one that is challenged by Mr. Bosworth’s thorny disposition. He also gets into some noteworthy squabbles with Siegfried. There’s certainly an antagonistic energy to Swift’s character, but the actor says he’s going on a journey in Season 5. Here, Swift introduces his character and how she shakes things up this season.

Give us an intro to your new character, Mr. Bosworth. What are his quirks? What is his place in this community?

Jeremy Swift: Well, he is a local person. He’s been around for a long time, but the spotlight hasn’t really hit him in the show. As we’re going into the Second World War, he is too old to be conscripted. He is an air raid warden, and very bossy, he is too. He’s a pedantic person and very much by the book but prides himself on his organization. A lot of people don’t see it that way though. They feel that he gets in their faces a little bit too much. But he’s a well-meaning character who’s a bit damaged.

Helen Williams / Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE

Can you give insight into what that damage is from?

He’s just very lonely. He’s never really coupled with anybody, and I think he hasn’t had anybody to reflect on him and tell him that he’s being boring and pedantic. I have a certain backstory myself, but we don’t really see that in the show. But he becomes involved with Anna Madeley’s character, Mrs. Hall, by reluctantly recruiting her to be a fellow warden. By the end of this fifth season, they have a sort of relationship, but it has hurdles along the way.

Related

James & Tristan Return From War in ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Trailer

So he’ll learn to open up and connect with people through this experience as air raid warden?

I think so. And also because of what happens to him and his poor dog. It’s a difficulty for him. He has a journey, certainly.

And how would you say he gets along with the main characters in this town? Does he make pals with them? Is he more antagonistic? You said he ruffles people’s feathers.

Certainly does. Particularly Siegfried, who he has two or three fantastic squabbles with, which were a delight to play. There’s nothing an actor likes more than a great row. And we loved playing those for sure. But yeah, he generally does [ruffle feathers]. People, as people can be, are polite with him, but a lot of people don’t take too kindly to his nature. So yeah, he can struggle a bit.

Do you see any similarities between Mr. Bosworth and your Ted Lasso character, Leslie Higgins? Both of these shows have a certain warmness to them, but Mr. Bosworth might not share Higgins’ warm energy.

I don’t think they’re very similar character-wise. I hope not! That’s what I try and do characters. I try not to repeat myself and step into the same water twice. I think Higgins is more about other people and assisting other people, and Mr. Bosworth is more about trying to organize other people. I think that’s the big difference between the two characters.

What else about Mr. Bosworth was new for you?

Uncomfortable boiler suits. They were quite scratchy. All those clothes that people wore, that people are nostalgic for 80 years ago, whatever, it was very scratchy, quite uncomfortable, a false mustache, which incidentally was in two halves. That’s a first for me. But I’ve loved being in that period. I have done ’20s, ’40s quite a bit actually with Foyle’s War, Downton Abbey, so I sort of know the score a little bit. But it just depends on the occupation of the character and how rich they are. Having said that, I don’t really often play characters that are very rich. Even in Ted Lasso, I was by far and away the poorest character after all those rich footballers.

Helen Williams / Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE

Mr. Bosworth’s dog is his family. What was it like to see this dog work on set, especially on a show that has so many animals involved?

I met the doggie when he was doing his bit of acting, briefly. And of course, he was adorable straight away. Sam told me that one of the biggest [time-consuming] things on the show is getting the animals to do what you want. And I saw that firsthand because he was supposed to be pretty poorly, but he kept on looking up happily at his handler, so they had to control that. But it was very sweet. In Episode 5, I met a lot of sheep and I was amazed by the sheepdog who was so skillful. Gosh, hopefully, he has credit in the show. I mean, just stunning work. I got to meet some animals when Mr. Bosworth storms into the surgery in Episode 5 with exciting news. And of course, the waiting room, which watching the show I’d always taken for granted is full of people with sick animals or whatever. I got time to meet some of them, and one person had a duck on their lap. I thought, “I haven’t met a duck on a lap in somebody’s lap before!” I’ve seen them in our local parks. But it was a very friendly duck, and I even got to stroke it a little bit. So that was very sweet.

Were you a fan of the show before coming onto it? Did you watch the previous seasons before this role?

I hadn’t seen it before. It was on my list. Now [having worked] with these people, everybody was so fantastic in it. I could tell from the get-go working with them. But now I have watched it, just binged it. It’s just a complete delight and so exciting. It was like, oh I’m in it now! So yeah, loved it.

Is there a possibility for Mr. Bosworth to come back in Season 6? [The series has already been renewed for Season 6.]

A lot of people hinted at that, but I haven’t had any certainty about that. But it would be great to do. It would be great.

All Creatures Great and Small, Season 5 Premiere, Sunday, January 12, 9/8c, PBS