The second season of Clarkson’s Farm, which follows the sixty-two-year-old’s battle with the avian flu, livestock issues, and the local council, was made available on Prime Video on Friday, February 10.
But it’s the constant opposition from the council that causes Clarkson the most problems, as his plans to establish a restaurant, a parking area, and a farm track all encounter fierce resistance.
The show has done very well on the streaming site, much to the surprise of Clarkson who was skeptical that people would enjoy it.
He revealed to LADbible: “I thought Clarkson’s Farm would serve up gentle disappointment to fans of The Grand Tour.“
“They’d watch the first one, maybe the first three, and that would dwindle to nobody watching.
“And then obviously the first inkling that all was well was there was a Guardian review the day after it aired, which said it was appalling and dreadful and an insult to farmers, and I thought, ‘The Guardian hate it – I think we’re on to something here.’”
And it seems he puts the success of the show down to his co-star “Kaleb,” sharing that he thinks “he’s an absolute star.”
“And what I love about Kaleb is he just has no airs and graces around me at all, it’s just, ‘You f***ing useless w***er.’
“That happens on a daily basis, and I live in constant fear of upsetting him – which I know I’ve done. I did something yesterday so bad, and I know he’s going to find out, and I couldn’t sleep last night thinking, ‘He is going to be livid with me.’”
And now, season 2 has officially dropped. The synopsis for this season reads: “Jeremy Clarkson, Britain’s best-known but least-qualified amateur farmer is back!
“Another year in the life of Diddly Squat farm begins, and all the regular characters are still here, helping Jeremy as much as they can: Kaleb’s on hand to show him How to Actually Run a Farm, Lisa’s running the shop, Charlie’s always ready to deliver more brutal home truths, and Gerald’s still Head of Security, with his own unique way of expressing himself.
“With farmers across the country facing the impact of Brexit and the impending loss of subsidies, all are forced to diversify and Jeremy’s got big plans: he wants a herd of cows, he wants a load more chickens, and he wants his own restaurant where he can serve up a menu entirely made up of Diddly Squat produce, with the ambition of increasing his annual profit from last year (£144). All farms are busy, but this one is about to get a whole lot busier…”
The most recent episodes of the show, which have a reputation for not sugarcoating how difficult farming is in reality, have already irritated viewers by showing Clarkson’s efforts to operate his farm being impeded by numerous challenges.
In episode 5, when Clarkson faces off against lawyer Charles Streeten, he uses the chance to make fun of his spelling after he finishes speaking.
As he went to sit down, Clarkson advised Streeten, “You should learn to spell.”
Since then, the attorney has written an open letter criticising Clarkson and underlining the difficulties dyslexic people experience.
“’Learn to spell.’ Well, I’ve certainly tried,” Streeten wrote.
“When you muttered those words to me you couldn’t have known how many times I’ve heard them. But to a dyslexic, it’s a familiar phrase.
“At school, I always failed spelling tests. No matter how hard I worked, or how often I stowed the list of words beneath my pillow, when the time came to be tested, I simply could not put the letters in order with certainty.
“My ears would burn and I would know I’d failed again. As the rest [of] my class graduated to Beryl rollerballs and fountain pens, I was limited to the indignity of a pencil; one with a rubber grip, to force me to hold it properly.”
He continued: “The inability to arrange letters according to historical convention is, to this day, seen as the calling card of indolence or imbecility—usually both.
“Dyslexia didn’t forestall my career at the Bar. So far as I am aware, and despite the concern expressed by at least one member of my chambers during pupillage, not one judge, juror, or West Oxfordshire planning committee member has ever failed to understand me because I cannot spell. Whether a writer, a barrister, or a farmer, good spelling, it seems, is not essential.”
In response to the letter, Clarkson told The Times: “It’s great that Mr Streeten has overcome his dyslexia to such an extent that he’s able to send such a well-spelt letter from Jamaica.
“It’s just a shame he chose not to mention his learning difficulty when we met at the planning meeting more than a year ago. Because if he had, the exchange would not have been televised.”
