Clarkson’s Farm Season 5 divides fans at launch: Scripted setup or the harsh truth?

The new series will show Jeremy Clarkson, 66, being rushed to hospital over a major health scare

Clarkson’s Farm series five drops on our screens later this week – and the critics have a lot to say about it.

Jeremy Clarkson’s hit reality farming show returns to Prime Video on Wednesday, with four episodes airing that day.

The show – set on Clarkson’s 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire – has captured the former Top Gear presenter opening a new pub, managing his animals and dealing with relentless drought over the years.

And while the series has become hugely popular with viewers, some critics suggested that this time round, it relies heavily on the same format.

The Telegraph critic Benji Wilson acknowledged that “agriculture is cyclical”, with similar things happening every year, which poses a “blessing and curse” for Clarkson.

“The series, one of, can cleave to the pattern of the seasons, telling gratifying stories of sowing and reaping, gestation and new birth,” he wrote.

He added: “But it also means that, as the show goes on, it has to avoid repeating itself. There are only so many times you can laugh at someone failing to herd sheep or slipping in a cow pat. (Admittedly, I can laugh at someone slipping in a cow pat quite a few times.)

“These are all stage-managed catastrophes, as they have always been on Clarkson’s Farm. The thing with a stage-managed catastrophe, however, is that if it is managed well enough, it’s still very funny, and ever since Top Gear and The Grand Tour, Clarkson has proved himself the master of the modern staged farce.”

Radio Times’ Jack Seale said viewers will see a “gentler” side to Clarkson following his heart issues and hospital visit.

Giving the show four out of five stars, he wrote: “It’s not quite more of the same, though. Clarkson, or at least the version of himself he presents in this series, has softened over time.

“Throw in a reminder of his mortality – a scene where he becomes breathless after rashly trying to saw down a Christmas tree unaided really does look like death is looming – and it’s time for a new Farmer Clarkson to emerge.

“It’s the usual larks, then, but with a gentler edge. Fans of Top Gear back in the day would not recognise the Jeremy Clarkson seen here fighting back tears when his favourite pigs are loaded on to the truck that only does one-way journeys – but Clarkson’s Farm is healthier than ever.”

Ben Dowell of The Times also gave the series four stars and said it is “still deliciously funny”.

”If series five feels scrappy at times, that’s because farming is a profession whose events cannot be planned. And this is not a show to shy away from the realities of rural life. Later episodes will take a properly dark turn,” he wrote.

He added: “Is Clarkson’s heart still in this? While his cardiovascular system remains under strain, you have to say yes, simply by looking at how his eyes well up whenever there’s a porker nearby or watching his smiling face as a remote-controlled tractor does its thing.

“So while there are moments when you feel he is winging it, Clarkson winging it is still deliciously funny, such as when he settles down for a healthy dairy-based breakfast and rails against eating ‘k**b cheese’.”

In the trailer for series five, Clarkson was seen being rushed to the hospital.

The former Grand Tour star had a heart procedure in late 2024, getting a stent fitted to open up a blocked artery following concerning symptoms.

An ambulance was seen racing down a country road before Clarkson was pictured lying on a hospital bed with wires connected to his chest.

He could be heard telling farm manager Kaleb Cooper: “You’ve got three arteries that feed your heart to keep it pumping. My heart wasn’t getting any blood.”

The TV star previously said he was “days from death” before having emergency heart surgery to save his life. He was rushed to hospital after experiencing symptoms to including clamminess, chest tightness and pins and needles in his left arm.

The rest of the trailer showed him battling through farm life as his animals faced a tuberculosis outbreak.

Clarkson also bought a driverless tractor – despite Cooper’s dismay – and attended farmer protests.

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