The Growing Cult of Personality
From his multi-million pound beer brand to a souvenir emporium selling cufflinks, Jeremy Clarkson has cultivated such a strong personal brand that he is increasingly resembling a celebrity akin to Kim or Khloé Kardashian. The advice? Stick to farming, Jeremy!
The Show’s Core Flaw
Now in its fifth series, the fundamental flaw at the heart of Clarkson’s Farm has become impossible to ignore. The show was originally intended to depict failure: an oafish man entering an industry he knows little about and making a mess of it.
However, that premise no longer holds true. In reality, Clarkson’s Farm has become so successful that Clarkson has effectively transformed the entire Cotswolds area in his image. His Farmer’s Dog pub has become such a popular attraction that it recently had to convert a nearby field into a 360-space car park—comparable to a large supermarket—to accommodate the influx of visitors. His Diddly Squat farm shop has evolved into a souvenir outlet catering to customers seeking branded hats and other merchandise, including jars of honey featuring Clarkson’s face. This does not even account for his Hawkstone beer brand, which reported sales of £21.3 million in the year ending March 2025 and aims to put Peroni “out of business.”
Clarkson’s Clumsiness Under Scrutiny
All of this success makes Clarkson’s affected clumsiness more difficult to accept. If the show’s purpose is to demonstrate the challenges of farming, yet Clarkson’s primary complaint is the number of pint glasses stolen from his pub by tourists, this represents a significant structural issue.
Series Five’s Attempts to Address the Issue
What is particularly notable about series five is that Clarkson’s Farm appears to be trying to address this problem in real time through two approaches. The first, and less successful, is to emphasize the reality show aspect. The series opens with iPhone footage of Clarkson in hospital suffering chest pains. Years of stress and unhealthy habits have caught up with him, and he reveals he was days away from a catastrophic heart attack.
Much of the new series focuses on this health crisis. Clarkson begins weight-loss injections, adopts a yoghurt-based diet, and must slow down and rest whenever possible—except during the 2024 farmers’ protest, which is somewhat downplayed despite Clarkson becoming its prominent face. During these periods, the show essentially follows him like a Kardashian. While there is clearly an audience for this type of content—after all, one cannot turn a pub into a bustling cult attraction without public interest in the individual—it does cause viewers to miss the actual farming content.
The Farming Content Remains Engaging
The farming segments remain well-produced and engaging. The appeal of Clarkson’s Farm lies in Clarkson’s ability to communicate effectively, drawing viewers into his interests. Unlike Countryfile, which often presents a sentimental view, Clarkson’s encounters with the peculiarities of modern agriculture are consistently intriguing. For example, there is a segment where he has someone perform a postmortem on a dead sheep, which is both fascinating and unsettling.
Clarkson’s Serious Engagement with Farming
The most rewarding parts of the show occur when Clarkson stops the antics and treats farming as a subject worthy of his attention. Much of this series is devoted to the modernization required to maintain farming profitability, leading Clarkson to some extraordinary places. He visits a potato farmer in the Netherlands who has optimized every aspect of his farm—even securing airport designation to facilitate targeted drone pesticide application—to reduce costs and increase yields.
This is highly technical material, involving heat maps, soil analysis, and detailed data, which might normally be considered dull. If the show were titled Random Dutch Potato-Grower’s Farm, it would likely attract only a few viewers. However, Clarkson’s enthusiasm—his intense curiosity and boyish excitement—makes it compelling. When he adopts these innovations fully, the show returns to its original premise: a man eager to learn about something unfamiliar. This is Clarkson’s Farm fulfilling its purpose, and when it succeeds in this way, it is truly exceptional.
Balancing Fame and Farming
The problem is that such content is insufficiently frequent. At present, Clarkson has become a figure with his own gravitational pull. Yet, Clarkson’s Farm is at its best when it ignores distractions and focuses on getting its hands dirty. More of this approach would significantly enhance the show.
Clarkson’s Farm is available on Prime Video.
