The Farm (UK TV series)

The Farm is the British version of the international TV format The Farm, produced by Strix. The show had a number of celebrities appear on it during its two series run on Five between 2004 and 2005. After the completion of the second series in 2005, Five revealed that they would not be airing any further series of the show.^[1]

Format

In the UK version of The Farm, the show puts a group of celebrities on a farm where they live together for a short period of time. On the farm, the contestants must work like a normal farmer does, doing agriculture and raising animals for example. In regular periods of time, one of the contestants is evicted from the farm by way of a public telephone vote. This process is continued until only one contestant remains, and then they gain the title of 'Top Farmer'.

Series one

Series one was announced in the summer of 2004,^[2] and eventually went to air from 26 September 2004, presented and narrated by Ed Hall. The show's first series broadcast in a nightly 10pm slot from 26 September to 17 October 2004.

The show's first series caused plenty of controversy for Five when in October 2004 it showed Rebecca Loos masturbating a pig and collecting a semen sample from it.^[3] This incident among others also caused outrage from the RSPCA.^[4]

The winner of the show by viewers' votes was Jeff Brazier.

The celebrities that took part were (in order of finishing position):

• Jeff Brazier (presenter) - Winner 'Top Farmer'
• Vanilla Ice (rapper) - Runner Up
• Rebecca Loos (David Beckham's former PA) - 6th Evicted
• Debbie McGee (magician's assistant) - 5th Evicted
• Margi Clarke (actress) - 4th Evicted
• Ritchie Neville (popstar) - 3rd Evicted
• Terry Christian (presenter) - 2nd Evicted
• Lady Victoria Hervey ('It Girl') - 1st Evicted
• Stan Collymore (footballer) - Quit before end
• Paul Daniels (magician) - Quit before end^[5]

Series two

Series two was announced soon after the completion of the first series.^[6] The second series aired from 9 May 2005 for a total of eighteen days,^[7] and was now presented by Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan. The show's second and final series was broadcast in a nightly 10.30pm slot (half-an-hour later than the timeslot during the first series) between 9 May and 26 May 2005.

The winner of the show by viewer's votes was Keith Harris and Orville the duck.

The celebrities that took part were (in order of finishing position):

• Keith Harris & Orville the duck - Winners 'Top Farmer'
• Mikey Green (popstar) - Runner Up
• Emma Noble (model) - 8th Evicted
• Dave Morgan (Jessie Wallace's former lover) - 7th Evicted
• Ron Jeremy (porn star) - 6th Evicted
• Emma B - 5th Evicted
• Lionel Blair (dancer and presenter) - 4th Evicted
• Flavor Flav (rapper) - 3rd Evicted
• Charlene Tilton (actress) - 2nd Evicted
• Cicciolina (porn star) - 1st Evicted

Ratings

The show's first episode managed 1.16 million viewers for Five, and overall, the first series was a success for the Channel, managing an average of 1.4 million viewers in its 10pm nightly timeslot. The first series received an increase in viewers thanks to the incident involving Rebecca Loos, and for the series one finale scored a peak of nearly 2.3 million viewers, and a 15.2% audience share for Five.^[8]

The show's second series began in May 2005 with a new nightly timeslot of 10.30pm, with the first episode taking 1.17 million viewers and a 9.2% audience share.^[9] The second series did not rate as well as the first however, and overall managed an average of 1.19 million viewers in its timeslot.

References