Matt Baker is back on screens with a new series, Matt Baker: Our Barn in the Dales, which sees him and his wife Nicola transform an old site beside his parents' farmhouse into a new home. The first episode, airing tonight, October 13, shows the couple clearing out decades of belongings and building a new path after Matt's father, Mike, suffers a fall.
Parents' Health Update
Both of Matt's parents, Mike and Janice, feature in the new series. At the start of October, Matt shared a video on Instagram with his wife and parents announcing the news. In the caption, he wrote: "We're back with a new series but with quite the twist...We're calling it Our Barn in the Dales as Nicola and I are converting the barn, stable and granary at the end of the courtyard into a cottage."
He added that the two-season series will include "all the things you loved in the previous series with the animals, mum, dad and not forgetting his classic car - spoiler, we finally finished it!" In the video, his dad, seen holding a walking stick, revealed he is often asked whether his car had been finished. Janice, looking happier than ever, shared she is often asked whether a new series would be made.
Janice had a tragic accident in 2021, when she was knocked to the floor and trampled while herding sheep, resulting in multiple injuries. In February, she celebrated her 70th birthday, with Matt paying tribute on Instagram: "70 amazing years packed full of fun and adventures, always inspiring us to go for it! Not a proper leap year birthday party for you this year, but 70's definitely worth celebrating. Love you x"
Dad's Career Change
Matt was born in Easington, County Durham, where his dad ran a newsagent's and his parents had a smallholding. When Matt was 10, the family moved to Durham as his parents sold up to start an organic sheep farm. Matt has said his mum was most keen to move to the country, sharing: "She was adopted and doesn't know much about her background, but she was drawn to the countryside. Before we moved, she said 'This is the time'. It's a beautiful part of the world."
Matt took over running his parents' farm after Janice's accident. In 2025, on The Mid Point podcast, he spoke about conversations with his parents after the incident: "My dad, who's not incredibly mobile now, was in a right state and what have you. Straight away we were like, we're going to come back and just assess the situation. And we got back, we'd been waiting for a long time for something to go wrong. It gets very nerve-wracking when you get to this phase in your life and your parents are getting older and you know what they're doing is really practical and quite full on as a lifestyle.
"They never wanted to leave the farm, but it was getting very demanding, but you try and have a conversations, but parents being parents…and then this event happened and it was quite obvious to my mum straight away that things needed to change and so we decided to change the farm up."
Matt Baker: Our Barn in the Dales starts on More4 on October 13 at 9pm.
