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 enjoyed tremendous success with their ITV programme, Fletchers' Family Farm — a series documenting life on the Fletchers' 120-acre farm near Macclesfield in Cheshire.
The Fletchers have recently secured a fresh deal, with ITV commissioning two additional series. This year, the programme has attracted 6.3 million streams on ITVX and achieved the highest Sunday 11.30am viewing figures in a decade. Liz and Kelvin, who played Andy Sugden in Emmerdale from 1996 until 2016, share four children: Marnie, Milo and twins Mateusz and Maximus.
Liz revealed she "can't wait" to witness how they'll shape the farm's 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? 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."
Interviewer Emily Ashworth observed that farming establishes a "legacy" which can be passed down through generations — something not often witnessed in other professions. She described it as an "emotional thought." Liz remarked: "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."
Kelvin, who won the Strictly Come Dancing trophy with 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 stated: "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."
The family's journey continues to captivate audiences, with Liz looking forward to the future and the legacy their children will create.
