A TV star famous for treating creatures great and small saw plenty of patient pets during a Dudley veterinary visit.

Christopher Timothy, star of the BBC adaptation of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small, called at Blacks Vets’ to officially open the company’s extended and refurbished veterinary hospital.

The actor joined the Mayor of Dudley, Cllr Margaret Aston, for a look around the new Hall Street hospital which has undergone a half-million pound makeover and features state-of-the-art X-ray, ultrasound and laboratory facilities as well as four operating theatres.

A spokesperson for Blacks Vets, which began business in Dudley in 1958, said: “We have constantly pushed the boundaries on delivering the highest pet care through the calibre and qualifications of our vets and nurses.

“This has meant that we have continually reinvested back into the Black Country to fund improvements and extensions over the years, most recently into our £500k extension and refurbishment to our veterinary hospital, providing the equipment, and diagnostics for when it is needed most."

The centre is monitored by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to meet the exacting standards required for a veterinary hospital.