All Creatures Great And Small TV Series - Johnny Pearson

In addition to providing the well known theme to the BBC tv series 'All Creatures Great and Small' the late British composer and orchestra leader Johnny Pearson also provided incidental music for a number of the shows episodes. This piece of music- entitled Autumn Reverie - was regularly used during episodes of the series which ran from 1978 to 1990. The series was based on the experiences of real life veterinary surgeon Alf Wright who wrote bestselling books under the pseudonym of James Herriot. The series was hugely popular with British television audiences during its 12 year run, regularly enjoying viewing figures of around 20 million people.The popularity of the series was attributed to its idyllic setting in the beautiful yorkshire dales and an excellent cast, among them Richard Hardy, Carol Drinkwater, Christopher Timothy, Peter Davision and Lynda Bellingham.

Johnny Pearson, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 85, wrote arrangements for a number of well known performers of the 1960s and 1970s, among them Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield. He also produced the arrangement of the Led Zeppelin track 'a whole lotta love' which was used as the intro for the popular BBC television programme Top Of The Pops in the 1970s. While his instrumental 'Sleepy Shores' reached the top 10 in the UK singles chart in 1972.