Love in the Countryside
Among the many challenges facing British farmers today, the lack of potential partners is a perhaps underreported one. Seeking to right this wrong, Sara Cox has gathered eight agricultural singletons for this new series. After posting profiles and pictures on the BBC website, they have received sacks of letters from which they must select a few hopefuls to meet and then take home for a few days on the farm.
The focus for this opening week falls on three of them. There’s 52-year-old Pete, whose bachelordom comes as no surprise given his claim that “cows are probably better behaved than women”, but whose softer centre emerges over the course of the hour; Dumfries farmer Christine, 32 and a vulnerable soul whose unwillingness to leave the family farm is as much psychological as practical; and 25-year-old Ed, a former wild child tamed by the quieter rhythms of rural life. Their brief dates veer from faltering to sweet and unwatchable, but by the end each has a shortlist of potential mates. Although six episodes feels like a stretch, it’s an engaging concept, and with a madeto-measure host in downto-earth farmer’s daughter Cox.