Producer Andy Wilman, who worked with Jeremy Clarkson on shows such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour, has told of his early concerns about Clarkson's Farm before it became a hit15:43, 18 Jun 2026In 2019, a tenant that had been renting some thousand acres of Oxfordshire farmland decided to retire. The landowner, television presenter Jeremy Clarkson, decided that it might be something of a lark to try his hand at farming the land himself.‌Almost as an afterthought, he pitched the idea of a reality show based on his life at the farm to executives at Amazon Prime Video. The result, Clarkson’s Farm, has accidentally become an important outlet for the real views of British farmers. It has also shown a different, more vulnerable side to Jeremy, with the star emotionally sharing news of his cancer diagnosis on the latest series.‌But producer Andy Wilman, who worked with Clarkson on shows such as Top Gear and The Grand Tour, admits that he had grave concerns before embarking on the Clarkson’s Farm project.‌Speaking on the High Performance podcast, he explained he never imagined that “a show about a man failing to grow things” would ever have such cultural resonance: “All our best moments with Top Gear were kind of organic happy accidents, or just organically developing.”It was much the same with Clarkson’s Farm, he said: “The whole premise was a sort of whimsical thing – he tries to make a go of his farm… all the focus was on Jeremy making a go of his farm. There was no plan or logic or perception that farmers would see us as beacons or would say, ‘Oh you actually are highlighting things that bothered us’.”‌But Andy admits that he also didn’t anticipate how popular the show might be with the general public: “Our big worry, apart from how authentic it would be, is how boring it might be.”He explained that Clarkson fans who had been thrilled by stunts where he strapped rocket engines to a Mini, or tried to drive an amphibious car across the English Channel, might be disappointed if the highlight of a Clarkson’s Farm episode was a scene of Jeremy “hitching a tractor trailer up.”Andy says that in a typical reality show about someone starting a farm or any kind of business, there would be an underlying sense of peril about whether it succeeded or failed.‌He explained: “The classic version of somebody doing a farm would be, 'I've sold everything I've got. I've mortgaged everything… I've put all my life savings into this and I've got to make it work.’ Therein lies your jeopardy to take you through the series.”But that doesn’t work with Jeremy at the helm, Andy says: “Everyone knows Jeremy's got a bob or two. So if the farm were not to make money or work, right, he's not out on his a**e. That's not going to happen. And that was the storyline gone.”Article continues belowFortunately, against all the odds, audiences were captivated by the idea of Clarkson being told off by farm assistant Kaleb Cooper for wasting money on a Lamborghini tractor.Now in its fifth series, Clarkson’s Farm is as popular with ordinary farmers as it is with the general public. One farmer told the BBC: “Many farmers will think that this is putting them and their experience over in a positive way … There were some proper laugh-out-loud moments … I am so inspired by the way that Jeremy Clarkson has talked about the industry and the people who have helped him.”Sheep farmer James Rebanks told the Telegraph that Clarkson had done more for farming in one series than in 30 years of the BBC's long-running farming magazine programme, Countryfile.