Kelvin Fletcher's wife, Liz, has addressed an "emotional thought" regarding the future of their family farm, revealing "we're all open for that." The former Emmerdale actor and his family have found success with their ITV programme, Fletchers' Family Farm - a series documenting life on the Fletchers' 120-acre farm near Macclesfield in Cheshire.
New Deal and Success
The Fletchers have recently signed a new deal, with ITV ordering two more series. This year, the show has drawn 6.3 million streams on ITVX and delivered the biggest Sunday 11.30am ratings in a decade.
Family Life
Liz and Kelvin, who played Andy Sugden in Emmerdale from 1996 to 2016, are parents to four children: Marnie, Milo and twins Mateusz and Maximus. Liz said she "can't wait" to see how they shape the farm in the future.
Speaking on The Farmer's Guardian podcast, Liz said: "What are they gonna do with the farm? That's why I can't wait. The thought of passing the farm down to them. What are they gonna do?"
She continued: "I'm like, 'Look, you can be whatever you want. You don't have to be farmers', as Kelvin's a bit like, 'You're gonna be farmers'. But I can't wait to see what they do. And I hope that they can create something or do something here that makes them happy."
Legacy and Change
Interviewer Emily Ashworth noted that farming creates a "legacy" that can be handed down through generations — something you don't often see in other careers. She described it as an "emotional thought."
Liz agreed: "It is, yeah, coz they're learning from us now. And the thought of them taking into account what we do now, and maybe applying it and then putting their own touch on it."
"You know, I hope that when we're older... I mean, who knows where we'll be in 10, 20 years' time. But I hope that they have the strength and the knowledge to apply what they need to apply to fit in the world that they're in at that time. And they can change things up."
"And we're all open for that. I don't ever want them to feel that they have to do it just because we did it that way. I want them to think out of the box."
Background
Kelvin, who claimed the Strictly Come Dancing crown alongside Oti Mabuse in 2019, married Liz in 2015. He previously said that, even with their current success, neither of them came to farming with any experience.
He remarked: "I was playing a farmer for 20 years, but as you'll know, with soaps, we did very little farming. It was more, I think, shooting people with shotguns, going to prison, getting married three or four times."
"That I was more accustomed to, but when you think of it like that, it sounds crazy, but kind of life has imitated art."
