‘I've no reason to leave'

As his hit series returns, presenter Matt Baker tells us why he’s so happy to be a farmer

- REBECCA FLETCHER

When Matt Baker embarked on a mercy mission back at his childhood home in the Dales 15 months ago, he had no idea of the turn his life was about to take.

Worried sick after hearing his mum, Janice, had been seriously injured while tending sheep on their remote 100-acre farm in the Durham hills, he dropped everything to help her and his dad, Mike, keep things running, taking his wife, Nicola, and children, Molly and Luke, with him.

‘Doing a TV show was the last thing on my mind,’ says Matt, 43, as he joins TV Times for an exclusive interview. ‘But then I had a meeting in a barn with a friend at More4, apologising for the chaos, and he asked me to film what I was doing!’

What followed, earlier this year, was a hit four-part series, Matt Baker: Our Farm in the Dales – More4’s most successful commission to date. And the three generations of the Baker family are back for a second outing this week, with a third series and festive special in the pipeline.

Here, Matt tells us what to expect in the coming series...