Last Son of Narnia?

In All Creatures Great and Small, Siegfried declares The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to be one of the greatest books ever written. It feels worryingly like a fourth-wall break, given that C S Lewis was the actor's old tutor at Oxford.

The line appears in the original 1978–1990 BBC series of All Creatures Great and Small, specifically in Series 6, Episode 10 ("The Best Time").

In that episode (set around the early 1950s), a young girl has renamed her dog "Lucy" after a character from a book she's reading, and Siegfried Farnon (played by Robert Hardy) reacts positively when he recognizes it. He enthusiastically calls The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe one of the greatest books ever written (or words to that very close effect, praising it highly in the context of the conversation).

It's a charming, brief moment that fits Siegfried's character—he's often the more cultured, literary-minded of the vets, quick to reference classics or show his educated side.

As for the fourth-wall aspect: yes, it's a delightful in-joke with real biographical resonance. Robert Hardy studied English at Magdalen College, Oxford, after World War II (his studies were interrupted by wartime RAF service), and C S Lewis was one of his tutors there. Hardy spoke fondly of Lewis in interviews over the years, describing him as an inspiring (if sometimes intimidating) figure during tutorials. The connection adds a nice layer of meta-authenticity to the scene—Hardy isn't just delivering a line as Siegfried; there's a personal warmth and genuine admiration behind it.

It's not a blatant break like a camera wink, but it does feel like a subtle nod from Hardy (and perhaps the production) to Lewis's legacy, especially since the Narnia books were still relatively fresh classics in the show's 1980s airing period (the episode first broadcast in 1989). Fans of both series often spot these kinds of overlaps—there are even minor crossover connections in casting between All Creatures and various Narnia adaptations over the decades.

Re-watching the classic series, it's one of those little details that makes the whole thing feel even more lived-in and personal.

Interestingly enough, there's even a follow-up and perhaps slightly more subtle reference to Narnia in Series 7 Episode 2. Siegfried (mis)quotes Thomas Carlyle's "Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead; therefore we must learn both arts." He then remarks that "Speech is human: it's what separates us from the animals." - which sounds a lot like a sentiment of Robert Hardy's old tutor again. (Funnily enough, Screwtape says something similar to Carlyle about music and silence - only of course he hates them both, preferring diabolical noise!)

Perhaps less interestingly, but still quite randomly, the original Siegfried on film was played by none other than Anthony Hopkins, who went on to play Lewis himself in the remake of Shadowlands. (And, for what it's worth, the director of that film, who was of course Sir Richard Attenborough, died in the same residence as Hardy would just a few years later.)

And Hardy himself would make his own indirect contribution to the "Oxford" school of fantasy" when he took on the part of Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter films.