You're one of the special guests headlining this year’s Three Counties. Can can you tell us what you're going to be doing? I'm doing a couple of Q&A’s, One at the Future of Farming Theatre and another at the Food and Drink Theatre talking about my background, our farm, how the countryside shaped me, the type of farming that we have, the different breeds of sheep that we've got on the farm. How our farm changes through the season. We're an organic farm as well. We did a series back in the day called Our Farm in the Dales, which featured my whole family, my mum and my dad, and my wife and children.
I’ll be taking a tour around the exhibited livestock, joining in some machinery demos, with an opportunity to meet everyone and say hello. So do please come and find me
Do you think you'll ever leave TV completely behind you and devote all your your time to farming? Who knows what life's going to throw at you or what's going to happen. At the moment, we're making television shows as well as farming, and it's a balance that works really well. All farmers are diversifying in some way, shape or form. And this is my form of diversification in the telly side of things. We can all do our bit in some way, shape or form and I see my bit in the storytelling and welcoming people through the world of television.
18
handle flipped just in time. The doors opened and they played the last note, literally the last note. And that was it. And then we had to roll the credits and they'd all come down from Scotland and they never even got on the show, which was which was really a shame. I love it when things don't happen as what you'd expect them to because that's part of the challenge. Otherwise, why are you doing telly?
Do you miss Blue Peter? I've done things in my life for a period until I felt like I was ready to grow again and try something different. At that stage in my life, I was ready to sort of move on and try something different. So from Blue Peter, I joined and we shaped Countryfile as it moved to its evening slot on BBC One, and became more of a family type of show. I didn’t have time to look back. I've had all these amazing experiences and I feel very fortunate to have been involved in so many kind of institutions in the world of television, I suppose. It’s a bit bizarre how I find myself in these worlds, to be honest. But I make the most of it, and then move on and try another challenge. That's what came with the One Show, when I thought to myself, I'm ready to start having a go at taking on the the huge commitment of making television shows from scratch with my own production company and working with the biggest channels, which we do. And it's, it's incredible, really, when you think about it.
So what advice would you give to aspiring television presenters who are looking to get into the world of television presenting? Well, I would always say never forget what you love because that's really important. It's all about your perspective and your angle on things. Try to remember you're only ever really broadcasting to a couple of people who are watching, or maybe just even one person now who's watching on a phone or something like that. So the more intimate you can be, the better. I think it's really important to remember that you don't have to be loud and arms waving and to try and attract the attention of gazillions of people. It's actually a very intimate thing, television presenting. Your job is to help people tell their story.
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
You were elected as the president for the National Federation of Young Farmers back in 2011, are you still doing that? No, not any more. You have a set amount of time that you do it for and I thoroughly enjoyed that. Young Farmers has been brilliant to me and my family as well over the years. My mum's been county organiser of Young Farmers for years and years. She no longer does that. My sister was also heavily involved in Young Farmers as well. And that's how she met her husband and so Young Farmers has been a big part of our life.
Are there any projects or ambitions that you're excited to pursue in the future? Well we’re currently working on the second series of our Dream Farm will be coming out next year. I've got a series out as well where I'm going off around Britain and the Northern Ireland, well all around the Four Nations talking to the amazing people that make Britain and Northern Ireland. We've got Travels with Mum and Dad, which is a little travel show that I do with my folks around the Northeast, so busy times ahead.
Interview by Samantha Hubbard - Photography by Kate-Mallendar
INTERVI EW MAT T BAK ER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116
