SIXTY SECONDS and the kids weren’t in school so we could up sticks. I was working on the farm and running my production company from up north and one of my conversations I had with a producer was on Zoom, as I was standing in the barn. We were talking abo
THE HOST, 43, ON HOW A NASTY FARM ACCIDENT CHANGED HIS LIFE AND TURNED INTO A TV SHOW – AND WHY IT’S SUCH A FAMILY AFFAIR
Your series, Our Farm In The Dales, began when your mum Janice had a terrible accident. What happened?
I’d resigned from The One Show to be with my family more and when lockdown began I was working from home on my production company, when my dad rang and said, ‘Your mum’s had this really nasty accident in the sheep pens and is in hospital.’ She was knocked over by sheep and smashed her leg so badly she needed a knee replacement. My wife and I took the kids, Molly and Luke, up to the farm in the Durham Dales to help out. The farm’s a big part of our family – it’s like I’m returning to a life I had left before. It was going to take something like an accident to make my mum realise things had to change, because the farm is her passion.
She’s the shepherdess and Dad’s not well enough to run the farm. As soon as we arrived, we could see Mum was very vulnerable so it was all hands on deck to help.
How did this turn into your TV show?
It’s so bizarre when I think about how the stars aligned. If I was still doing The One Show and I was in the studio every night we would have been in stuck. But it happened in lockdown
How did that work in lockdown?
It was a really sensitive situation for Mum and I wanted to make sure it felt friendly and the kids were relaxed. But, in fact, we had a ball filming it. Instead of a whole team, it was a cameraman friend of mine, and a sound man who I’ve known, and Mum and Dad have known, from my Blue Peter days. So instead of all these directors turning up, it was simply us doing our bit around the farm and James and Steve wandering around after us. In fact, the hardest part was cutting down the amount of footage and deciding what to put into the episodes. We didn’t want it to be too fast-paced.
It feels like we’re coming out of a hibernation, we’re looking back on our previous life
Has farm life changed you?
We’ve always been a very close family but the farm is a brilliant backdrop to real-life issues. You can see how the generations work together, how the youngsters can help, how instead of my mum breeding sheep, the new generation is choosing the sheep of the future. Here on the farm it’s very solitary – and we feel like we’re in lockdown all the time. But, right now, it feels like we’re coming out of a hibernation, we’re looking back on our previous life and thinking about the changes we want in the future and I think everybody across the UK can relate to that. For us, changes were things like introducing smaller, more manageable herds of sheep.
What’s tougher, live TV or farming?
Being up at 5am isn’t tough for me because I’ve known that ever since I was a boy. We have our own smallholding in the Chilterns, a smaller version of my parent’s farm, where we have our own chickens and livestock, so even when I was on The One Show
I was mucking out and getting covered in manure and then going into the studio to interview George Clooney! So farming has made me what I am and it’s a tough life but a good one. I’ve never found TV stressful, because even when things go wrong, you think the viewers enjoy it, too. But what is tough is seeing your parents in the chapter of their life when they might need help because you want to make their lives as easy as possible, but at what point do you interject, and say, ‘This is what’s going to be best for you in the future?’ In fact, we’ve never argued because Mum and Dad knew what needed to be done.
You filmed your audition tape for Blue Peter on the farm...
We got a video camera and my dad filmed bits and pieces. I had been a champion gymnast so we filmed me backflipping around the farmyard, I rode a unicycle, and we showed some lambing because I thought, ‘All the townies will love this!’ I was courting my wife at the time – we were teenagers when we first started dating – and she helped, too. And it worked!
Do you have a Blue Peter presenter WhatsApp?
It’s an exclusive club being a Blue Peter presenter. I was number 28! Me, Konnie [Huq], Simon [Thomas] and Liz [Barker] were a very close-knit team. Filming abroad was cheap then so we travelled the world together and you can’t not get close when you’re thrown into those situations. Do we Zoom and WhatsApp? No. I prefer calling them and speaking – the old-fashioned way.
Matt Baker: Our Farm In The Dales, Weds at 9pm on More4. Catch up now on All 4