Just finished the series and can recommend it. Yes there are moments where he’s a twonk, there are clearly staged bits to make him, or what’s he’s done, live up to his TG/GT persona, but unless you’re a mouth breathing JC fan you can see straight through this.
In general he comes across well and seeing him talk about wilding and countryside management was a surprise and good to see. Hopefully this may start some of the most ardent JC fans to think about their impact on our planet.
I do hope they make more episodes, I’ll certainly be tuning in

How long will this bug go on for?

I could see your post without the bump? Could you not?

No I couldn’t

Have watched the first 3 so far and quite enjoyed it. Hard to work out the extent to which it is staged – certainly seems less so than TG and the like. The bit with the jumping sheep did have me laughing out loud I have to admit..

You’ll enjoy the 4th about wilding. I felt this was the most staged to show his numptiness but clear to see that he’ll have had a lot of help behind the scenes, his ‘POWER!’ Persona slips.
Laughed quite a bit throughout the series, I like the others on his team too, Gerald does speak a bit clearer at the end of the final episode

I’ve got tired of Clarkson over the years, it’s all a bit samey, but the Guardian gave this a really poor review so it may be worth a look.

but the Guardian gave this a really poor review so it may be worth a look.

But as The Telegraph gave it a glowing review I’ll be probably be giving it a miss

Watched the first one yesterday

It has the potential to be an interesting series and properly look at the issues facing agriculture in a way that other presenters may not get across. At times the first one got a bit too “Clarkson” when he’s moaning about regulations, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and try the rest.

I’ve watched the first 5 parts and enjoy it. Yes, it’s Clarkson being Clarkson but he does seem to genuinely enjoy what he’s doing and does seem to understand how hard it is to make money farming.
He did seem to be really upset that he had to get rid of some un-productive sheep. His young tractor driver is a star as well.

But as The Telegraph gave it a glowing review I’ll be probably be giving it a miss

Well now it’s got tricky 😀

Forget the meeja, they are feeding their fans. Having worked on a few farms (and for a major conservation charity) is there anything about that achingly, carefully-curated, ‘tasteless™’ faux-webellious schoolboy Widow tWanky mantomime-relic which may enlighten me further re food-production/animal-welfare and environmental impact in the 21st Century? Or is it more about pumping his celeb status/profile well beyond it’s sell-by?

It’s more about gently highlighting the issues to those typical clarkson fans. Slowly slowly catchy monkey and all that

Where can this be watched?

It’s on Amazon

I thought it was so he could claim tax relief on his Oxfordshire pile as a business expense.

It’s been run as a farm since he bought it, just not by him. I doubt you could do much with 1000 acres except run it as a farm!

Having worked on a few farms (and for a major conservation charity) is there anything about that achingly, carefully-curated, ‘tasteless™’ faux-webellious schoolboy Widow tWanky mantomime-relic which may enlighten me further re food-production/animal-welfare and environmental impact in the 21st Century?

Of course not, but you are probably not the target audience in terms of Clarkson fan or needing the educational aspect

It’s been run as a farm since he bought it, just not by him. I doubt you could do much with 1000 acres except run it as a farm!

You could do This (knepp rewilding project) Which, though I haven’t watched, sounds like clarkson has alluded to based on the above comments.

Just watched the first one. That Caleb lad is a find…enjoyed most of it, so reckon I’ll watch the rest soon enough. Jezza’s firmly in character, but I thought it illustrated aspects of farming struggles pretty well, if a little superficially.

Not watched it yet but if anyone is interested in a more serious look at some aspects of farming you could have a look at Harry’s farm on YouTube

Well now it’s got tricky 😀

To confuse things further, it actually got both a great review and a shocker In the Guardian

Yes, it’s Clarkson being Clarkson but he does seem to genuinely enjoy what he’s doing

Oh, I didn’t get that as long as you’re happy, you can be a complete Tool. Explains politics a lot. And other things.

Not watched it yet but if anyone is interested in a more serious look at some aspects of farming you could have a look at Harry’s farm on YouTube

Yep was going to mention that. He is also a bit more qualified to talk about cars too.

Started watching it the other night as the TV seems full of something called the Euros. I thought we were out of Europe?

Anyway, it seems Ok. He’s not full-on Clarkson so that part is Ok. Yeah some staged parts, but overall it’s pretty good. As someone with farming in their blood it interests me for that foo.

We watched the first 4 episodes yesterday and find it great. Sure there are elements of Clarkson ‘Powerrrrr’ in there but on the whole I think Amazon have done a good job with it.

Clarkson seems to be quite passionate about animals and nature. He’s a victim of his own success really, as can be seen with the bits about him getting roasted about chopping trees down on the social medias – yet he came back with a well justified and thought out reasoning.

I think it will be a show that ultimately has an underlying message that farmers in the UK are getting shafted by bureaucracy and struggle to make a living in traditional farming. He will of course be ok as he’s rather rich but I think he’ll be keen to say and show that it isn’t just a toy for him. Probably with some form of speech at the end.

He has said somewhere else that being a farmer is easy for him as he can just go and record another series of ‘Who wants to be.. ‘ if he doesn’t make any money from farming.

I’m not the biggest fan of Clarkson but I can tolerate him, and I really enjoyed this. Kaleb is a treasure, as are the other people on the show. It definitely does get across how hard and unpredictable farming must be, although it does lose a lot of its bite when you realise there aren’t much stakes since he has so much money already it’ll be a drop in the bucket if he isn’t successful with the farm.

The wilding episode was interesting though, made me decide that if I ever won the lottery, I’d buy up as much land as I could and rewild it.

Part of the contract they have with Amazon is that they have to make a few non car related programes for the channel,now Grand Tour has finished.

James May owns half a pub restaurant so possibly another series.

Would have to be very un-Clarkson to be watchable.
Mans a tool.

I actually found the farming bit really eye opening, and thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. Even as someone who doesn’t really like JC.

(Although I have read one or two of his books, I think he is actually a reasonably talented writer when he puts his mind to it).

James May owns half a pub restaurant so possibly another series.

Doesn’t he already do a cooking show? Not watched it, look awful. Although I did quite enjoy his Japan series.

MrsMomo and I have been watching it this weekend, 5 episodes in. It’s a great show and Kaleb is the absolute star of it in my mind.

I’ll add another recommendation for harrys farm on youtube, in a video last week he was talking about this show and how much he was looking forward to it (he has one of the neighbouring farms I think as well as a mild interest in cars!)

I felt sure the NFU rep from episode 1 would be back at some point, she seemed really rather taken with JC…

+1 on Kaleb being brilliant.

Was interesting to me as an outsider to farming, and the Clarksonisation of it means it’s a bit more entertaining than just a straight doco, started watching it off the back of this thread, ended up watching the whole lot in a 1’er

I think it will be a show that ultimately has an underlying message that farmers in the UK are getting shafted by bureaucracy and struggle to make a living in traditional farming. He will of course be ok as he’s rather rich but I think he’ll be keen to say and show that it isn’t just a toy for him. Probably with some form of speech at the end.

No spoilers but all that’s to come in the final episode, sadly he doesn’t mention Brexit being one of the causes of farmers losing some of their subsidies

+1 Harry’s Farm. Harry was at the same machinery sale, he filmed it, was a shame not to see him appear in JC’s programme

And as mentioned in my other post, the team, Kaleb and Gerald especially are great

Doesn’t he already do a cooking show? Not watched it, look awful.

it is. All it basically is a book promotion for someone else.

And as mentioned in my other post, the team, Kaleb and Gerald especially are great

Both those two remind me of characters I’ve met over the years when helping my grandad.

He has said somewhere else that being a farmer is easy for him as he can just go and record another series of ‘Who wants to be.. ‘ if he doesn’t make any money from farming.

The quote is from the series. And the context in which he says it is very important. He’s not trying to come across “I’m alright Jack”, he’s trying to emphasise how hard it is for a farmer to actually make a living.

Interesting that people are focussing on the reviews. I remember a mate was in car journo-ing telling me Clarkson originally made a name for himself by writing his car reviews counter to everyone else’s – if people loved it, he found a way to hate it, and vice versa.

If you’re interested he’s doing an interview with Johnny Vaughan on RadioX sometime in the next hour.

Binge watched today, enjoyed it. Much better than James’s cooking show.