A Farmers Life for Me - BBC 2 now

With Jimmy Docherty ... should be interesting viewing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-rad...a-farmers-life

Putting on a proper old grumpy face to prove this is a little more than just another reality TV show, Jimmy Doherty fronts a series in which nine towny couples compete for the chance to run a 25-acre Suffolk farm. The first challenge the hopefuls face is choosing one of nine small plots and working out how to make it pay, before embarking on initial work such as ploughing, putting up fencing and buying livestock. As Jimmy says, agriculture isn't just about living the good life, it's a business. JW

I belive one of my ex lectures and possibly my college was on the programme tonight hahahahaha!

I came across that by chance last night. It was really interesting and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. I loved the goats I'd be hopeless as a farmer because I would not be able to slaughter any of my animals.

I was glad the two sisters went - all they did was bicker!

We were at training last Tuesday so I just caught the end of this week's episode. I was surprised they were judged on their ability to herd the sheep. Even a trained dog must be hard to handle if you have no previous experience.

I quite enjoyed this week's episode, but probably because it was about sheep and dogs I totally agree with you though Irena. The couples were all given a very short lesson with a sheepdog handler, and then expected to send the dog (who didn't know them) out to gather a flock, bring them down the field and into a pen, then one of the couple had to shear a sheep.

However, no one had been told that the sheepdog will always bring the flock to the handler and so they all got in a bit of a mess - although the first couple did pretty well, considering.

I thought it was a bit unfair as well but I think it was trying to show up any of them with a 'natural' ability which it did do. It's an enormous prize with a lot of responsibility so it's bound to be tough. Would it be too much to expect them to have done some research and discovered that the dog will bring the sheep to the handler - I knew that just from watching 'One Man and His Dog'!

We nearly entered this..... but common sense won over and we didn't send the form off!

I bet you are glad now