You may remember Jeremy Clarkson from the days of Top Gear, a car show mixing (obviously) cars, humor, sarcasm and weird ideas. But he’s way more than that. A journalist, writer, TV host and a few other roles, Clarkson has become a quite popular public person, albeit a bit controversial (which I like, to be honest, not much into one-sided personalities). I love his witty remarks and I sometimes think he spent his childhood in the same neighborhood with Ricky Gervais (another guy I simply love watching, whether he’s presenting the Golden Globe Awards, or acting in After Life).
After he joined Amazon, Jeremy engaged in a few series, the latest being one called Clarkson Farm. That’s what I am about to write now, specifically because it’s not about cars. On the contrary.
It’s a bit weird to try and state your opinion about something, and at the same time try not to reveal too much about that something, but I’ll give it a try.
First of all, like I said, this 8 episodes series is not about cars, although you may see quite a lot of surprising machineries appearing, and being operated by the participants (Jeremy included). It’s about Jeremy attempt to run a 1,000 acres farm in Chadlington.
Second, this is unscripted (or at least that’s one of the categories in which you can find it in Amazon Prime). That means none of the dialogues are written in advance, and that makes the show very realistic. There are parts of it which are raw, like the unforgiving weather in the countryside, and some which are breathtakingly beautiful, like scenery, and the idyllic vistas you get almost 80% of the time. Some may be cruel, like raising animals to sacrifice them later, some may be refreshing, like re-creating wild habitats or saving owls (wilding). All in all, it’s a refreshing, humorous, authentic piece of life, in which Clarkson is just as good, if not better, than in his prime Top Gears seasons.
At times, I really felt the need to pace myself, and postpone the next episode for tomorrow, simply because I was fearing it will end too soon.
It also made me relive, with much vigor, parts of my childhood in the countryside (where I was doing pretty much everything Jeremy does in the show, and then some). I even surprised myself thinking a couple of times about retiring at a farm in the Southern Portugal, and write from there.
For now, this won’t happen, but you never know.
All in all, I highly recommend this piece, a 110% Jeremy Clarkson show. Warning: environmentalists may not feel entirely at ease. There is sarcasm.
Literally last minute edit: Looks like a second season was commissioned by Amazon, so there’s hope. Nothing official yet, just rumors.
Image source: IMDB.
