Clarkson’s Farm returns: more rural comfort TV
“Reports of Jeremy Clarkson’s cancellation have been greatly exaggerated,” said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. Yes, TV companies have made vague noises about not renewing his contracts after his controversial column about the Duchess of Sussex in The Sun; but for now, at least, “he’s back with a new series of Clarkson’s Farm (Amazon Prime Video), being as defiantly Jeremy Clarkson-ish as ever”.
In the new season, we find him gearing up for an epic battle with the council. Having established the Diddly Squat farm shop, he has set his sights on opening a restaurant that will serve his own beef. Along the way, there is “some farming to be done”, and Clarkson is aided once again by Kaleb, now a household name after his “star-making turn in series one”.
The show is unscripted, but does have rather a “stagey feel” this time round. Even so, it makes for “thoroughly enjoyable viewing”.
This season does seem “slightly artificial”, agreed Nick Hilton in The Independent. But Clarkson is “a terrifically articulate” advocate for farmers, and provides a “hands-on perspective” here. Those with “a low Clarkson-tolerance” may not be charmed, as the show is full of “blokey pomposity”, but this is “delicious” TV. And when it’s funny, it really is “very funny”, said Jack Seale in The Guardian. There is endless mileage in Clarkson and Kaleb’s “odd-couple” dynamic; and Gerald, the dry-stone-wall expert, is “a gift from the sitcom gods”. It all adds up to “grandscale pottering” that’s deeply comforting to watch.