Jeremy Clarkson breaks Amazon viewing record with Clarkson’s Farm

The series beat out Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for viewers watching on TV sets in the UK.

By James Hibbs

Published: Thursday, 23 February 2023 at 12:00 am

The second season of Clarkson’s Farm has broken viewing records for Prime Video, becoming the service’s most-watched original series in the UK since the data started being collected.

The data comes from Barb, the UK’s ratings body, with the first episode of the new season found to have been watched by nearly 4.3 million viewers on TV sets. The figures do not include people watching on mobile devices.

This figure makes it the most-watched episode across all of Amazon’s originals in the UK, beating out series including The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the first episode of which was watched by 3.2 million viewers.

The new season dropped on 10th February and saw Clarkson looking to diversify on Diddly Squat Farm, bringing in a herd of cows and more chickens and looking to open up his own restaurant, with a menu entirely made up of the farm’s produce. The series has already been recommissioned for a third season.

""
Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper in Clarkson’s Farm.
Ellis O’Brien / Prime Video

The show’s second season arrived less than two months after Clarkson’s controversial column about Meghan Markle was published in The Sun on 16th December.

Read more:

In the column, Clarkson said of Markle: “I hate her. Not like I hate [Scottish National Party leader] Nicola Sturgeon or [British serial killer] Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level.

“At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.”

The presenter later apologised for his comments and revealed that he had also contacted Harry and Meghan directly.

“On Christmas morning, I e-mailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them too,” he explained. “I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I’d used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry.”

It was subsequently reported that Prime Video wouldn’t be moving forward on any future seasons of Clarkson’s shows beyond those seasons that have already been commissioned (including Clarkson’s Farm season 3). This would mean no more shows with the star would be likely to appear on the service beyond 2024.

It was later reported by The Telegraph that any cancellation of Clarkson’s projects would be unrelated to the column in The Sun, and instead would be down to budgets and viewership.