What to watch
LIVE: Summer on the Farm CHANNEL 5, 9PM
❖ Not long after Channel 5’s launch in 1997, its first Director of Programmes, Dawn Airey, famously conceded that its strengths were the “three Fs” of “films, football and f---ing”. None feature too frequently in the broadcaster’s schedules these days; instead, Channel 5’s big audiencewinning F is farming. From Our Yorkshire Farm to All Creatures Great and Small, agriculture and rural life have pulled in huge ratings; the …On the Farm franchise also boasts a loyal following, and returns this week for five consecutive nights of live programming from Cannon Hall Farm in South Yorkshire, where Helen Skelton and Jules Hudson are once again our hosts.
Alongside the live action, farming brothers Rob and Dave Nicholson fill us in on their summer so far, including efforts to encourage more bees to their lands and a trip to the Yorkshire Vet to assist an ailing baby llama; not the first example of neat cross-promotion, as Amanda Owen goes foraging for ingredients quintessential to cooking in summer. Later in the week, expect billy goats, jam-making, village fêtes, brass bands and that much-mocked addition to David Cameron’s back garden, a shepherd’s hut.