Kelvin Fletcher is back on our  TV’s with his popular farming show, and he’s teased a new addition to his already rather large family!

The former Emmerdale actor turned farmer, 39, returns in Fletcher’s Family Farm, which airs on ITV. He and his wife Liz previously appeared in Kelvin’s Big Farming Adventure on BBC One.

Now back on the channel he feels most familiar with, viewers will get an insight into rural life, beginning in the midst of their busiest lambing season ever.

Kelvin and Liz enter the world of pig breeding as they attempt the complex art of artificial insemination (look away now Rebecca Loos), and they make preparations to open the farm for their first public event.
Kelvin Fletcher and family on the farm

Kelvin Fletcher and his wife Liz Marsland at their farm with their family (Credit: Daisybeck Studios)

Fletcher’s Family Farm on ITV1

Fletcher’s Family Farm is a brand new series which feels like “coming home” to Strictly star Kelvin. Fans will know that the actor decided to ditch urban life to embark on a new life on a farm.

In 2021, Kelvin and his family decided to take on a 120-acre holding on the edge of the Peak District to run a farm – and then turn it into a TV show which aired in 2022.

Talking ahead of his new show on ITV, he said: “In many respects, this has been a long time in the making and we have been here at the farm for two years now. We have established a home here. The whole purpose of this programme is to give a real and genuine insight into how life on the farm is. We are considered new entrants to farming, so even though it’s been our home for two years, we are still very much the newbies in town

Neither Kelvin nor his wife, also an actor, come from farming backgrounds. He explains: “We have literally taken a leap of faith and done the unthinkable and decided to uproot and move out to the middle of nowhere and start living off the land. As crazy as it sounds, that is exactly what we have done.”

Kelvin Fletcher misses his family in Manchester

After leaving urban life behind and moving to the country, Kelvin admits he loves living on the farm. But there’s one thing – or technically two things – he misses from his Manchester life.

The dad-of-four says: “I was really happy where we were, but there’s nothing I miss that I don’t have… Well, except I think the only thing is Mum and Dad coming around for a brew because they lived five minutes away.

“The thing I love [about living on the farm] is the stillness. No other place has made me feel quite as present as this place does and that’s the ability it has. It is the stand still ability that allows you to capture that moment and that’s so rare for everyone because we are all so busy.”
Kelvin Fletcher

Kelvin was a huge hit on Strictly Come Dancing (Credit: BBC)

There’s a new addition to Kelvin Fletcher’s family!

Talking about the highs and lows of farming, actor Kelvin shares his joy at opening up their farm to the public for the first time. But he also teases a new addition to the Fletcher family!

He says: “Another great moment was that we lambed and birthed for the first time. The kids lambed and we had our first pigs born. We made hay for the first time, me and Liz did the whole process together.”

Awwww, beware of the cuteness factor!

Kelvin also reveals that the farm is “ever evolving”: “We have a lot going on. New animals and new breeds. The farm is ever evolving. We are looking into doing some Arable farming. We are just scratching the surface, what we are going to be doing in six months time, who knows what the future holds? That sense of variety will always be there.”

However, Kelvin admits that “those high moments don’t feel as high without the lows”. He says: “Without the loss of livestock, losing a sheep or losing a lamb and, at times, you do feel like you have made a mistake. But that is inevitable with new farmers. There have been plenty of highs and lows and the cameras capture them all.”

Of course, soap fans will know that Kelvin portrayed Andy Sugden in Emmerdale for 20 years – a farmer! He jokes: “The irony is I played a farmer and now I have become a farmer!