Ever since Clarkson’s Farm premiered on Prime Video in 2021, I’ve thought it was one of the best shows for families on television. But, there was just one problem.
Profanity. Lots of it, of all kinds (plus taking the Lord’s name in vain).
Yes, there was also the occasional double entrendre or suggestive comment (generally regarding animal husbandry), but mostly, it was language.
But it wasn’t that the language was directed to harm anyone or attack anyone.
No, just like one of my favorite scripted shows, HBO’s shockingly prescient tech-bro comedy Silicon Valley, it’s just the way the characters (or real people, in the case of Clarkson’s Farm) talk in the course of ordinary conversation.
Also, like Silicon Valley, Clarkson’s Farm has enormous value, but a lot of people won’t give it a chance because of the language issue.
But, There Is a Solution
Luckily, Prime Video is one of the streamers — along with Netflix, AppleTV, Paramount+ and Peacock, and some Prime add-on channels — where VidAngel can mute or skip the words or situations that users define.
I’m not sure what Clarkson’s Farm would look or sound like with the salty words edited out, but if that gets families to watch it, I’m all for it.
However, there are also scenes depicting the stark reality of breeding animals (and requisite off-color jokes), and not all the animal stories have a happy ending. But, that’s life on a farm.
Using VidAngel, middle-schoolers and up could get the benefit of the show, without adding to their vocabulary in unacceptable ways.
So, Who’s Jeremy Clarkson, and What Has He Done?
Clarkson has been a fixture on British TV for decades, most notably as one of the co-hosts — with Richard Hammond and James May — of the long-running BBC show Top Gear.
Ostensibly about car news and reviews, Top Gear was actually about three middle-aged bickering British men going on absurd adventures and doing ridiculous stunts with vehicles, all driven by the imagination of their producer, Mr. (Andy) Wilman.
But much of what made the show a hit came from brain of Clarkson, whom Wilman has called a TV genius.
At the same time, Clarkson is very opinionated, a bit of a blowhard, and willing to try almost anything. Unfortunately, that included getting into a scuffle with a producer, which ended with him being fired from Top Gear.
Hammond and May left with him, and the trio hopped to Prime Video to be hosts of a new auto-centric show called The Grand Tour.
With even wilder adventures, The Grand Tour is a globe-hopping, vastly inflated version of Top Gear‘s stunts, with the same Mr. Wilman sending the hosts on escapades from Namibia to Scandinavia.
The profanity and innuendoes are there, but on a lower level than Clarkson’s Farm. Unfortunately, though, VidAngel can only clean up the latest iteration of the show, with three new hosts, that premiered this year (if you ask me, it’s a pale imitation).
Anyway, at the beginning of The Grand Tour, the show lugged the tent that functioned as its studio around the world, but that proved expensive and onerous. Eventually, the tent settled into a permanent home on Clarkson’s 1,000-acre farm in the bucolic landscape of England’s Cotswolds region.
After a few seasons, The Grand Tour ceased being a regular series and became just specials. Then Clarkson — with Wilman — came up with Clarkson’s Farm.
The Accidental Farmer
Clarkson had never farmed his farm, leaving that chore to a local. But when that man stepped away, Clarkson had the “brainwave” (one of his favorite terms) to become a farmer, and to have Prime Video document the process.
He dubbed the place Diddly Squat Farm, and, despite knowing absolutely nothing about farming, he forged ahead.
In five seasons (the fifth premiered in June), Clarkson’s faced COVID, drought, flood, disobedient sheep, badger-borne bovine tuberculosis, rising costs, dwindling profits, and yet more drought and flood.
Beyond the hazards of nature, Clarkson has battled the heavy hand of the British government; his NIMBY nemesis, the West Oxfordshire District Council; and the citizenry of the nearby town of Chipping Norton (to be fair, Clarkson did blow up his house for The Grand Tour, and that rather upset the locals).
At his side has been his loyal Irish girlfriend, former actress and model (and Dutch baroness) Lisa Hogan, who manages the Diddly Squat Farm Shop. Then there’s Chipping Norton native Kaleb Cooper, a fresh-faced twentysomething who may not know who Moses is, but who knows everything about farming.
Also in the little Diddly Squat orbit are land agent (and frequent bearer of bad financial/regulatory news) Charlie Ireland, (a k a “Cheerful Charlie”); enthusiastic but incomprehensible dry-stone-wall builder Gerald Cooper (no relation); contractor and builder Alan Townsend; and veterinarian Dilwyn Evans
And, of course, many, many critters, including sheep, goats, cows, gunea fowl (briefly) and pigs.
But, Why Should Families Watch Clarkson’s Farm?
So many kids today have no real idea where their food comes from, whether animal or vegetable. And even if you can see farms or occasionally visit one — or go to a county fair — that’s not a broad view of the reality of farming.
Through the lens of Clarkson’s struggles, the show spotlights the beauty and hardship of rural life.
Using the same production crew as Top Gear and The Grand Tour — shows that were filmed and edited exquisitely — Clarkson’s Farm employs many filming tricks (such as drones) to explore both the farm and the creatures that inhabit its woods and hedgerows.
Among the wildlife regularly shown are deer, foxes, rabbits, and mass quantities of birds. There was even a “bird lady” — conservationist and author Hannah Bourne-Taylor –who dropped by in season five.
Over the seasons, viewers have watched the growing relationship — and love — between the wordly sixtysomething Clarkson and young, untraveled Kaleb.
Members of the Diddly Squat circle have faced injury, illness, livestock tragedy, financial and legal issues … and yet they persevere.
Late in life, Clarkson has become an enthusiastic champion of the British farmer — and by extension, farmers everywhere. While teaching himself farming, he’s also taught his audience.
At the same time, Clarkson is an entrepreneur. In his quest to make enough money from the farm, he’s started a farm shop, a brewery, a short-lived restaurant, a longer-lived burger van, and now, a pub.
All have faced stiff headwinds, but through his dogged refusal to learn from experience, Clarkson keeps on going.
Is There Faith in Clarkson’s Farm?
Finally, in terms of faith content, the subject does come up now and then (as with Moses above), but Clarkson is distinctly not a believer.
In Season 5, while setting up a Nativity as part of a Christmas display, he gives a very irreverent and unfortunate explanation of the Nativity. Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, he adds in rude and snarky comments.
When I first saw the sequence, my eyebrows went up. And I wasn’t alone.
Writing in the Catholic Herald, Declan J. Ganley declares himself a fan of Clarkson and the show, but definitely not of this scene:
It was not witty, it was not brave, and it was entirely unnecessary. As a Catholic, I was saddened by it, and I have no doubt that members of other Christian denominations would feel the same way. Our Lady is not a figure for this kind of reality television treatment. To reduce the Blessed Virgin and the mystery of the Incarnation to crude sexual innuendo was cheap and disrespectful.
I tend to agree with Ganley and winced while watching the scene. But I saw it again with a Catholic pal, and she thought it was a clever way to get the religious meaning of Christmas into the show, in a fashion that wouldn’t set off secular viewers.
Not sure that was Clarkson’s intent, but, OK.
So, if You Want Your Kids to Learn About the Reality of Food Production …
… Clarkson’s Farm is a great place to begin. And, by the way, it’s also poignant, heartwarming and absolutely hilarious. But, unless you opt for VidAngel, you may have to endure a fair bit of rough language along the way.
I know that’s a dealbreaker for a lot of you — and I wish that Prime Video offered a bleeped version of the show (boy, that would be a lot of bleeps).
But, I wouldn’t say it was worth it for middle-school and up, unless I really believed it was — and I do.
