Jeremy Clarkson's hit reality farming show returns to Prime Video on Wednesday, with four episodes airing that day. The series, set on Clarkson's 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire, has captured the former Top Gear presenter opening a new pub, managing his animals and dealing with relentless drought over the years.
While the show has become hugely popular with viewers, some critics suggested that this time round, it relies heavily on the same format. The Telegraph's Benji Wilson acknowledged that 'agriculture is cyclical', with similar things happening every year, which poses a 'blessing and curse' for Clarkson. He wrote: 'The series, one of, can cleave to the pattern of the seasons, telling gratifying stories of sowing and reaping, gestation and new birth.'
Wilson added: 'But it also means that, as the show goes on, it has to avoid repeating itself. There are only so many times you can laugh at someone failing to herd sheep or slipping in a cow pat. These are all stage-managed catastrophes, as they have always been on Clarkson's Farm. The thing with a stage-managed catastrophe, however, is that if it is managed well enough, it's still very funny.'
Radio Times' Jack Seale gave the series four out of five stars, noting a 'gentler' side to Clarkson following his heart issues and hospital visit. He wrote: 'It's not quite more of the same, though. Clarkson, or at least the version of himself he presents in this series, has softened over time. Throw in a reminder of his mortality – a scene where he becomes breathless after rashly trying to saw down a Christmas tree unaided really does look like death is looming – and it's time for a new Farmer Clarkson to emerge.'
The Times' Ben Dowell also awarded four stars, saying the series is 'still deliciously funny'. He wrote: 'If series five feels scrappy at times, that's because farming is a profession whose events cannot be planned. And this is not a show to shy away from the realities of rural life. Later episodes will take a properly dark turn.'
The trailer for series five shows Clarkson being rushed to hospital after a heart procedure in late 2024, where he had a stent fitted to open a blocked artery. He tells farm manager Kaleb Cooper: 'You've got three arteries that feed your heart to keep it pumping. My heart wasn't getting any blood.' The rest of the trailer shows him battling a tuberculosis outbreak among his animals, buying a driverless tractor despite Cooper's dismay, and attending farmer protests.
