Coronation Street star Chris Gascoyne’s character on Channel 5 drama All Creatures Great And Small has finally been revealed as the show gears up to its new series.

The actor, 57, who is best known for his role as Peter Barlow on the ITV soap, was revealed as one of the new famous faces to be joining the Yorkshire-based series earlier this year, alongside Emma Thompson’s daughter Gaia Wise.

Now, the character Chris will play has finally been revealed, as leading actor Nicholas Ralph, who plays vet James Herriot, has opened up on what fans can expect to see.

Series six features a jump in time forward to VE Day, after the end of World War II, with viewers catching up with a struggling James as the purse strings pull tight.

Worried about the finances of his practice, James decides to start helping out at a local dog racing track, which has ‘all sorts of drama’ going on behind the scenes.

Put to work straight away checking over the racing whippets, but it’s clear something else is afoot, with the owner of the the track involved in some shady business.

Speaking ahead of the series return on September 25, Nicholas, 35, said: ‘We had Chris Gascoyne, who a lot of people will know from Coronation Street, in the role of the guy running the track.

‘As you can imagine, he’s a bit of a dodgy character.’

Chris will be joined on screen by fellow newcomer Gaia, the daughter of Hollywood actress Emma, 66, and Sense and Sensibility actor Greg Wise, who will play newcomer Charlotte Beauvoir.

And for Samuel West, 59, who plays Siegfried Farnon in the series, it was reminiscent of his time working alongside Emma.

The pair starred in 1992 film Howards End, which saw Samuel nominated for a BAFTA, and 1995 biographical drama Carrington, together.

He said: ‘There was one scene where I was walking alongside her talking, and she looked so like her mum, Emma, so that was really weird.

‘It was like suddenly being 30 – 35 years younger, and that’s because Gaia’s really terrific – her mannerisms, or something she did, or some look she gave the ground – just took me back.

‘It was very odd indeed. She’s terrific, and I hope we stick with her.’

It comes after Channel 5 confirmed All Creatures Great And Small would be making its long-awaited return for its sixth series, and arriving much sooner than fans expected.

Set in the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, the show will pick up in 1945, just after the end of World War II, and this series change is in the air.

Skeldale House wouldn’t be the same without the much-loved regulars, with Nicholas’s James Herriot joined by Rachel Shenton’s Helen once more.

Anna Madeley’s Mrs Hall and Callum Woodhouse’s Tristan will also all be back in action.

The star-studded new line-up of characters will include Hollyoaks actress Lucy-Jo Hudson, Titanic star Jonathan Hyde and Waterloo Road’s Philip Martin Brown.

With the war finally over, a synopsis of the series has teased that the villagers of Darrowby will be stepping into an uncertain but hopeful future.

The official synopsis teases that our beloved vets and their community will face ‘the opportunities that a new world brings’ as well as navigating looking after ‘a host of animals great and small, and of course, each other’.

The series last aired over Christmas in 2024 with a festive special.