Four seasons in, Clarkson’s Farm knows what formula the viewers want to see and is sticking to it.
Though why would they want to change it up? It’s hard to overstate how much of a hit Clarkson’s Farm has been for Prime Video. This is one of its most popular shows ever, drawing in millions of eyeballs.
Clarkson – previously best known for putting his foot in it on Top Gear or drawing headlines for rather less savoury reasons – has also completed somewhat of a volte-face in terms of public opinion: now, he’s less public firebrand and more Benevolent Grumpy Jeremy, Voice of the Farming Community.
Benevolent Grumpy (BG for short) Jeremy is firmly on show here, in the fourth season, which takes us back to the rainy winter of 2024 as he and the team go about trying to eke a living from the land of Diddly Squat, the farm he owns.
Very quickly, the plot lines establish themselves. This time around, Kaleb Cooper has been replaced (albeit temporarily) with Harriet, a no-nonsense farmer who is certainly far more competent than Clarkson – cue one shrivellingly awkward scene where she attempts to point out pig clitorises to him – and possibly even more so than Kaleb. She also happens to be big on TikTok.
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As she goes about putting the farm to rights, Clarkson is faffing around trying to sink cash into his personal passion project: buying and doing up at “proper Cotswolds pub” where he can sell his farm produce.
To be honest, though, any tension around the various storylines is dispelled by the fact that the show comes out a year after it’s filmed. Despite various issues with planning and Gloucester district council, we know that Clarkson’s pub (The Farmer’s Dog) is up and running – which takes the tension out of things somewhat. Plus, watching the council members cheerfully agree to be filmed during the planning meetings, where they declare that “we’re really keen to work with you,” is toe-curling.
To be honest, how much you like Clarkson’s Farm Season 4 depends on how high your tolerance is for watching Clarkson do various stupid things like ordering eight tractors to his farm and making them take part in a competition, just because he can. Or watching him describe his tractor as “Agent Provocateur” and the new models he’s looking at as “Bridget Jones, beige big pants tractors.” Or watching his face light up like a little boy at Christmas when he manages to do something like unscrew a drill wheel from a piece of farming equipment; it’s all rather self-congratulatory.
The hijinks are occasionally undercut by more serious topics. The difficulty of making a living from the soil is a constant topic in the show, and especially so here, where the endless rains of early 2024 made it impossible to plant anything in time for harvest. There’s a conversation in the car about mental health among young farmers, where Harriet explains that she knows several people who have taken their own lives due to loneliness and the crushing pressures of the job. But the show is less about raising awareness and more about indulging BG Jeremy’s ego; four seasons in, the schtick is starting to wear a little thin.
Clarkson’s Farm Season Four is streaming on Prime Video from May 23
