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TV classic All Creatures Great and Small is set for a big-budget remake.

The smash-hit BBC drama, which pulled in audiences of more than 20m, has been picked up by American production giant HBO, the creators of Sex and the City, Game of Thrones and The Wire.

US bosses see big potential for the show about a vet in rural Yorkshire, which ran from 1978 to 1990.

A production insider: “There’s a bit of a fad for British classics after the success of Poldark and Doctor Who. There’s plenty of scope to make the storylines more modern but keep the basic formula the same.

“It’s going to be sexier and glossier and the hope is to get a couple of big names involved to help make it a success.”

The original series, based on books by real-life vet Alf Wight, was set from the 1930s to the 50s.

It told the story of vet James Herriot, originally played by Christopher Timothy, and his gentle adventures rescuing farm animals and pets in and around the fictional ­Yorkshire village of Darrowby.

One name in the frame for the remake could be old Etonian Dominic West, who starred in HBO’s cop drama The Wire.

His grumpy boss Siegfried Farnon ­(originally played by Robert Hardy) would be ideal for Hugh Laurie, best known in America as cantankerous medic Dr Gregory House.

The role of James’s wife Helen, first played by Carol Drinkwater then by the late Lynda Bellingham, might be a stretch for Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker, but she’d bring in viewers.

And Siegfried’s young brother Tristan (Peter Davison) would be a great role for Stephen Moyer, best known as vampire Bill Compton in HBO’s True Blood.

(Image: DBase)

The original show, screened on Sunday evenings, made a household name of Christopher Timothy, who went on to have a romance with his first screen wife Carol.

But by the time of the fourth series the real-life couple had split and Lynda ­Bellingham took over the role of Helen.

The show ended with a Christmas special in 1990 which took the characters up to the 1953 festive season.

In 2011 the BBC showed a three-part prequel showing the young James at university before he went to Darrowby.

Our US TV source said of the HBO remake: “So far it’s only in the planning stages but there are some great ideas being thrown around.”