“Welcome back to Clarkson’s Farm, where everything is as we left it…” It’s the usual classic understatement from Jeremy Clarkson, the longtime motoring presenter who, with Season 5 of Clarkson’s Farm (Prime Video), has built his working farm in the countryside a few hours north of London into a thriving operation, complete with attached pub and restaurant. Understatement, because despite its success, the belovedly-nicknamed Diddly Squat is facing serious new challenges. Like more customers hungry for more beef and pork. And a British government making changes to agricultural taxation that smart. It’s enough to put some big stress on the old ticker, and that’s where we are as the new season of Clarkson’s Farm begins.   

CLARKSON’S FARM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: George Harrison’s “What is lIfe” plays over sun-drenched shots of the farm landscapes and wildlife of West Oxfordshire in Autumn.

The Gist: Opening the Farmer’s Dog pub, shop, and restaurant, which we saw in Season 4 of Clarkson’s Farm, and combined with all the pressure of bringing in the harvest – well, as Clarkson says in his voiceover, “It had all been a bit too stressful.” The host is in a hospital bed as Season 5 begins, waylayed by a “dicky ticker,” aka clogged arteries. And perhaps he would have wished to stay there, because when he returns to the farm, it’s with a constricted diet monitored by girlfriend Lisa Hogan. Clarkson might hate eating Greek yogurt more than he ever did driving a Toyota Prius.

The lead episode of the latest season of Clarkson’s Farm takes a carousel approach as it shows off operations. The busy restaurant-pub has created “an incessant demand for meat,” which inspires Clarkson to purchase new sheep. And sure, they’re a supposedly low-maintenance breed. But explaining that to farming manager and fan fave Kaleb Cooper causes the usual consternation. There is also End Game the Bull to monitor, as the animal does or does not sire new calves. Lisa has purchased her own sheep, a breed of boutique Valais Blacknose from Switzerland. And the pub’s success creates its own static: demand for livestock, but also logistic snarls like overloaded power lines, lacking water supplies, and constant shrinkage from patrons applying the five-finger discount to Farmer’s Dog-branded glassware. Clarkson explains all of this with his typical blend of grandstanding, sarcasm, and genuine interest mixed with impulsive behavior.

Besides a slower-moving, still recovering Clarkson, the biggest challenge confronting Clarkson’s Farm in Season 5 is making their operation function under punishing new government tax rates – on everything from cattle to fertilizer – and a continued rise in costs. It’s a blessing and a curse, Clarkson’s outside-the-box thinking, and together with Kaleb and the business-minded Charlie Ireland, he has a few grand ideas to keep things thriving. Starting with those unruly new sheep. “I’m gonna use technology to round you up.”

Photo: Prime Video

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? After Jeremy Clarkson and his mates drove off into the Grand Tour sunset with 2024’s One for the Road, Prime Video announced the show would return in 2026 with new hosts.

And is there an American analog to Clarkson’s Farm? Farmers in this country certainly have their fair share of challenges with expenses and government policies, even if we don’t exactly have a direct comparison to the garrulous Clarkson as centerpiece. Prime Video does include three seasons of Fletcher’s Family Farm. And we can mention The McBee Dynasty: The Real American Cowboys here, too – the series is slated to return to Bravo for Season 3 even after insurance shenanigans.  

Our Take: Jeremy Clarkson loves knowing everything, even when he doesn’t know anything, and this inherent conflict continues its bountiful crop yield in Season 5 of Clarkson’s Farm. It’s a consistently fun show, because you can see the contours of Top Gear and The Grand Tour within it, how the host combines thoughtful observations with smart-alecky asides. Or how he’s comfortable comparing the unpredictable temperament of a lamb with the difficulties of maintaining a vintage Lamborghini. But as it has grown and changed over the seasons, Clarkson’s Farm — sometimes despite the ability of Clarkson to derail it — has also become a very interesting show. There is a ton of ground-level observation into farm operations here, from herd management to maintaining facilities to making sure money is spent on the right things. (Clarkson and his staff could really benefit from hiring a whip-smart ranch manager like Beth Dutton.) While Clarkson’s can often feel more like a reality show than a docuseries, it’s actually a lot of both, and trouble with taxation and the British government feels like a big driver of the latter in Season 5.   

Sex and Skin: Clarkson narrates drolly as veterinarian Dilwyn Evans “lubes up” to check which of the farm’s cows are pregnant.

Parting Shot: This season, it’s not all jokes out at Diddly Squat. “It felt good to make fun of the government,” Clarkson says in his voiceover. “But all of us knew that to try and stop this astonishing attack on British farming, fun wouldn’t cut it. Soon, we’d have to get serious.” 

Sleeper Star: Clarkson’s Farm has made hay over the years with celeb drop-ins, and Episode 1 of Season 5 features Mclaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri trying his hand at backing a trailer with tractor into a barn. 

Most Pilot-y Line: “Mate, I’m gonna break this to you,” Kaleb Cooper tells Clarkson. “No sheep is easy to care for.” This despite the flock of “EasyCare Sheep” the Diddly Squat boss just purchased.

Our Call: Stream It! After a handful of seasons, Jeremy Clarkson and his colorful staff have come a long way with their efforts down on Diddly Squat. But if Season 5 of Clarkson’s Farm proves anything, it’s that farm work remains incredibly difficult and full of daily snafus, even when the boss is a rich, semi-retired media personality. What solutions – wise and otherwise – will the always-watchable Clarkson come up with?