Jeremy Clarkson has revealed the deeply personal health battles he faced while filming the fourth season of his Amazon Prime Video series, Clarkson’s Farm.
Since its debut in 2021, the show has offered viewers a candid glimpse into the everyday realities of running Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds. Praised for shining a light on the hardships of British farming, the series has built a devoted following worldwide.
Season 4 dropped this week, following an emotionally charged third season where Clarkson and his farmhand Kaleb grappled with significant financial difficulties for the second year running. Adding to the pressure, Clarkson endured a serious health scare last year when he underwent emergency heart surgery after doctors found a fully blocked artery.
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This ordeal profoundly impacted him, and the final two episodes of season 4 intimately explore his health struggles. Speaking to The Sun, Clarkson admitted, “You can see me becoming more and more ill as the days go on, because I just lose my sense of humour, lose my ability to stay calm. I get in a proper old panic.”
At the time, Clarkson was juggling the stress of managing his farm’s pub and the demanding harvest season, pushing himself to the brink. “I didn’t know at the time. I knew I wasn’t being me. I was trying to get the pub open for the August Bank Holiday weekend and, at the same time, doing the harvest on the farm,” he shared.
The exhausting cycle of running a pub by day and returning to tractor work by night proved overwhelming, bringing him dangerously close to death. Even after his surgery, Clarkson has struggled to regain a sense of fun in his life while adapting to a new lifestyle.
Earlier this year, Clarkson expressed a renewed determination to prioritize his health in his Sunday Times column. “I have decided that it is so wonderful that I want it to go on for as long as is humanly possible,” he said, referring to the joy of watching his grandchildren grow up.
While work on the fifth season is underway, plans for a sixth season have been paused to allow Clarkson to take a necessary break. In October 2024, he experienced a sudden health decline requiring urgent treatment, including the fitting of a stent to improve heart blood flow.
Despite these challenges, Clarkson remains committed to sharing the realities of farming life. Fans can catch all episodes of Clarkson’s Farm now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.