Clarkson’s Farm Season 4 Review: It’s Still GREAT!

Clarkson’s Farm season 4 has certainly been the most divided season of this agricultural phenomenon because a slight pivot in narrative has left fans of this farming focused series a little divided.

Clarkson’s Farm up to this point has been heavily focused on farming and Jeremy Clarkson’s journey from owning a farm, to running it and getting stuck in with all the dirty work in a rather hilarious show with some endearing camaraderie along the way.

Now that Kaleb is on a nationwide tour Season 4 begins with Jeremy left in charge of the entire operation so he recruits the help of a young Derbyshire farmer called Harriet to help with day-to-day operations.

Harriet Cowan fits into the cast with ease and has just enough banter within her to keep Jeremy on his toes, she had big shoes to fill in Kaleb’s absence but I really enjoyed her on screen and her personality shone through, she was a natural on camera and a ray of sunshine in an otherwise no doubt stressful time for Jeremy as Kaleb’s off on his jollies soaking up his new found fame.

But what is dividing fans, especially towards the tail end of the series is that Jeremy is firmly focused on purchasing a pub and the series is split down the middle between farming and pub ownership but what many folks don’t seem to realise is that the pub IS part of the farm.

This pub will be stocking the meat from the cows Jeremy has just purchased, the farm is only using local produce which he’ll be obtaining from his own farm and all of the local ones around it and it’s nice to be focusing on something that’s directly linked to the farm but is a change of scenery from the first three seasons.

I get that diehard fans want to see farm, farm, farm and with the name of the show that’s perfectly understandable but this slight deviation off-track isn’t the core focus of the series and aside from the last 2 or 3 episodes are rarely even a heavy discussion throughout.

Reviving a British pub stocking local produce is equally as important as the produce being grown in the first place and I feel these two things go hand in hand towards supporting local farming.

The Farmer’s Dog pub doesn’t stock tomato ketchup or anything that isn’t sourced from the local area, there’s a butcher’s shop and a farm shop attached to the pub and cuts of meat that aren’t used in the pub are sold in a food truck located in the pubs gardens.

The pub has a colourful past (a former dogging site) and this lends a hand towards the comedic moments that the show delivers in spades. Yes, it’s not as funny when Kaleb is away but don’t worry, he comes back and Clarkson’s Farm is still great.

What makes Clarkson’s Farm for me is how the team face challenges together, and whilst the challenges facing farmers is what the show heavily leans on there’s only so many times you can show the same thing before it gets repetitive.

This is a TV show at the end of the day and not a giant advert of an ongoing crisis in our countries agricultural system. Yes, the show needs to highlight it and it does that but from an entertainment standpoint (keep in mind it’s still a show) there has to be some slight deviations here and there whilst keeping the core heart of the show still beating.

Clarkson’s Farm Season 4 is slightly off-balance towards the end but forget the noise, it’s still great, it’s still funny and whilst you may be a little disappointed if your core interest is in farming I have no doubt that now the pub is open the show will get back on track in Season 5 which was recently announced.

Missed our Diddly Squat Farm and Pub review? CLICK HERE