Clarksons Farm Season Five: Mixed Reviews on Chaos

has harvested huge successes since it first hit screens in 2021 with the then-hapless trying his hand at running a Cotswold farm.

The series, which typically centres around one of Jeremy's new hare-brained ideas, has seen the presenter try his hand at launching a farm shop and a farm-to-fork pub.

It also shows the difficulties that British farmers face due to their reliance on the weather, with floods and droughts both affecting Jeremy's annual yield.

However, reviews for the Prime Video series, which arrives on the platform with episodes 1-4 on Wednesday, have accused of it of relying on the same old format.

Suggesting that the new series offers up more of what viewers have seen in previous years, The Telegraph critic, Benji Wilson, said: 'You can only laugh at someone slipping in cow pat so many times'.

He noted that it is not the fault of the show that 'agriculture is cyclical', with similar things happening year on year, which can be a 'blessing and curse' for Jeremy.

The review read: 'The series, one of, can cleave to the pattern of the seasons, telling gratifying stories of sowing and reaping, gestation and new birth. 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. (Admittedly, I can laugh at someone slipping in a cow pat quite a few times.)'

'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, and ever since Top Gear and The Grand Tour, Clarkson has proved himself the master of the modern staged farce.'

While Jack Seale for the Radio Times argued that while it was 'more of the same', viewers will see a gentler Jeremy following his health scare.

He gave the series a very respectable 4 out of 5 stars and described the first episodes as 'the usual larks, then, but with a gentler edge'.

Jeremy was found to have severely narrowed coronary arteries and doctors told him he was very close to a major heart attack and 'days away from death'.

Once he returns to work, in a teaser clip for the show, he struggles physically on the farm, getting breathless during tasks like cutting down a Christmas tree.

Jack writes: '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.

'It's the usual larks, then, but with a gentler edge. Fans of Top Gear back in the day would not recognise the Jeremy Clarkson seen here fighting back tears when his favourite pigs are loaded on to the truck that only does one-way journeys – but Clarkson's Farm is healthier than ever.'

Ben Dowell of The Times also gave the series four stars, noting that while at times it can feel 'scrappy', that is due to the nature of the beast.

He said: 'But 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.'

He also questioned whether the show still has the same heart and charm. 

Musing: 'Is Clarkson's heart still in this? While his cardiovascular system remains under strain, you have to say yes, simply by looking at how his eyes well up whenever there's a porker nearby or watching his smiling face as a remote-controlled tractor does its thing.

'So while there are moments when you feel he is winging it, Clarkson winging it is still deliciously funny, such as when he settles down for a healthy dairy-based breakfast and rails against eating 'knob cheese'.

In the trailer for series five, Jeremy issued a sobering health update after being rushed to hospital in a first look at the forthcoming season.

The streaming giant confirmed the fifth series will premiere on June 3, with episodes one to four available that day, followed by episodes five and six on June 10. The final two instalments will air on June 17.

A first trailer was released on May 18, with Jeremy reflecting on his own mortality after being warned to take a break by concerned doctors. 

The TV personality had previously claimed he was 'days from death' after falling ill with excruciating chest pains at his Cotswolds home in 2024. 

He was subsequently rushed to nearby John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford by ambulance, where doctors discovered one of his arteries was 'completely blocked.' 

Surgeons later resolved the issue by inserting a stent - a tiny, expandable mesh tube that is placed in narrow or blocked coronary arteries to restore and aid the flow of blood. 

Discussing the unsettling incident with Diddly Squat farmhand , he says:  'You’ve got three arteries in your heart to keep it pumping, my heart was not getting any blood.' 

He concedes his "doctor wants him to stop talking, and Amazon want him to stop talking" - but discussions about health appear to be the least of his concerns as he tackles a new driverless tractor, some wayward sheep and an invasion of travellers at his local pub. 

Intrigued by his employer's expensive new machinery, Kaleb tells him: 'That's basically taking my job.'

But moments later, he has the last laugh as the state-of-the-art tractor breaks down in the middle of a field. 

'That went well,' he quips, as his dismayed boss is left to ponder the faltering piece of equipment.

Jeremy also introduces his new flock of 'Easy Care' sheep to Kaleb, prompting the sage response: 'No sheep is easy to care for.'

Kaleb is ultimately proved right as the pair struggle to control the animals in chaotic scenes at Diddly Squat Farm. 

The farmhand, a household name thanks to his regular appearances on the show, is later told his wife-to-be Kaya is in labour, but stuns Jeremy by opting to finish his chores on the farm before joining her in hospital. 

'S***, you've gotta go!' Jeremy urges him via walkie-talkie. 

'No, not yet, I'll finish this field quickly,' Kaleb tells him, prompting an astonished Jeremy to look up at the camera inside his tractor and ask: 'You did hear that?' 

Elsewhere there are concerns away from the farm, with Jeremy's pub, The Farmer's Dog suffering a spate of issues.