BBC looks to copy the success of Jeremy Clarkson and his farm

Researchers at the BBC are looking to an exciting new on-screen talent for new ideas: Jeremy Clarkson.

A recent BBC audience research team email points out that his show for Amazon Prime about life as a farmer, Clarkson’s Farm, is “resonating with some audience groups who are less likely to feel that the BBC is ‘For Me’”. They wonder if the BBC could make similarly “warm, entertaining stories about life across the UK”.

Of course, there are reasons not to copy Clarkson. He had to resign from Top Gear after punching his producer in the face, while a column he wrote last year saying he wanted to see the Duchess of Sussex paraded through the streets naked while people threw “excrement” at her has put his deals with both Amazon and ITV at risk.