Jeremy Clarkson has said he fears Gardeners' World will not be able to "survive" without its long-time host, Monty Don. Don, 71, announced earlier this month that he is stepping down as head gardener after 23 years, saying it was the "right time for a change". Several contenders have since been tipped to take over, including his BBC colleagues Adam Frost and Frances Tophill.
TV must get bigger
Clarkson predicted the BBC gardening programme will not achieve the same ratings without Don at the helm. He said television shows must get "bigger" to survive in a fragmented media landscape and amid the rise of social media content creators.
"We've always had event television, but there's very few, very little of it nowadays. But I just think that television must now get bigger," he said at the Royal Television Society London Convention 2026.
Gardening shows under threat
The Clarkson's Farm star, 66, added: "If you actually do gardening shows, I don't know how they're going to survive, especially without Monty Don. Anyone can do a gardening thing on social media or cookery. So I think it's very difficult to make a television show work unless you're cooking on the Moon or you know, doing something incredible."
Turning to Clarkson's Farm, Clarkson admitted the crew are worried about their salaries. "We've wrapped season six yesterday of Clarkson's Farm. We need to get bigger, better, fewer, all the rest of it," he said. "So there's 35, 40, people on that crew who are now sitting at home thinking, 'how are we going to pay our mortgage?'"
He added: "I know a huge amount of producers that I've worked with over the years, really, really clever people, decent, sensible, hard-working people, who cannot find work in the industry."
Merger prediction
Clarkson referenced remarks by Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra, who said she has no intention of merging the station with the BBC. The former Top Gear star believes all TV stations may have to merge to ensure their survival.
He said: "I think they are (going to merge), I actually believe more than that. I actually think that television in this country can at least survive and should do this, the whole lot of us; BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel Four, Channel Five."
Clarkson's Farm, which airs on Prime Video, has proven popular with viewers, which the broadcaster believes is down to its authenticity. Clarkson contrasted this with his previous roles on Top Gear and The Grand Tour, where events were "planned".
He said: "I started to notice this visceral hatred with audiences, and it really is. There's no such thing as mild disliking social media, and they absolutely hated anything that they suspected was scripted or faked. It's unfair to say Top Gear and The Grand Tour were fake but it was planned, the big set pieces were planned."
Clarkson added: "With Clarkson's Farm, you have absolutely no idea what you're going to do that day. It's a totally different programme. You just see me going, 'why is that sheep dead?' It's a much more human place to be and much more in tune with the times."
