Matt Baker, the beloved TV presenter known for his work on Blue Peter and BBC’s Countryfile, once confided a worrying secret to his wife, Nicola Mooney, following a serious injury sustained on the job. While widely recognized for celebrating countryside life through shows like Channel 4’s Our Dream Farm and Our Farm in the Dales, this shocking incident revealed a vulnerable side to the stalwart presenter.
The revelation came during a 2025 discussion on the Second Nature podcast recorded at Kew Gardens. Joined by fellow Countryfile hosts John Craven and Anita Rani, Matt was invited to share a surprising or unexpected experience. He took the opportunity to recount a frightening accident in which he broke his back.
The accident occurred while Matt was riding a horse to cover a story on rehabilitating racehorses. As he explained, the horse startled at the sudden noise of a hedgecutter being operated by a farmer across from them during lunchtime. With a large hedge to their left and an electric fence to their right, the horse panicked after the hedgecutter suddenly started up.
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Matt described the terrifying sequence: “The horse got spooked, skipped to the right side, burned its leg on the electric fence, then reared up and flipped right over me.” Despite the fall, adrenaline masked the severity of his injury, and Matt initially reassured everyone he was fine: “I jumped up and said, ‘We’re all good, carry on!’”
But the pain became undeniable once he began driving home. Realizing something was wrong, he told his wife, a physiotherapist, that he couldn’t get out of the car. Upon meeting him at the hospital, they discovered Matt had fractured his back.
More recently, Matt has shared updates on his ongoing struggle with chronic back pain. On Instagram, he wrote about building a rustic gym in their stable to gradually regain his strength. “For the past few years, I’ve been dealing with chronic back pain,” he admitted, “and I’ve honestly felt like a massive part of me has been missing.” Drawing on his gymnastics background, he promised to proceed with care as he works to overcome this “sticky wall.”
Matt Baker continues to remain a beloved figure in countryside programming, with his next Countryfile appearance scheduled on BBC One Sunday, March 1, from 6pm to 7pm.