Jeremy Clarkson has cancer: British icon reveals devastating diagnosis during filming for Clarkson’s Farm

Ahead of the release of the final two episodes of his Prime Video series, Mr Clarkson warned fans the episodes were “a difficult watch”.

In scenes revealed last night, Clarkson and co-stars Kaleb Cooper and Charlie Ireland are seen talking about their plans for the harvest when the ex-Top Gear host dropped the news on them.

A tearful Clarkson leans back into his chair and tells the visibly shocked pair: “I’ve got cancer.”

Kaleb, welling up with emotion, replies: “No, you haven’t. Where?” to which Clarkson says: “Where it is of no concern of anybody. I’ve known since May.”

The sudden diagnosis meant he had to leave the farm in order to undergo surgery during the middle of the harvest.

He told the two: “I’m praying we could get the harvest done and then I could go and get some treatment… but it’s going to be slap bang in the middle.”

He explained the surgery would put “him out of action”, leaving him unable to operate the grain carting tractor.

Kaleb admitted he was “not prepared” to hear the news, adding that Clarkson could ring him if he needed anything.

On his return, he shared with Kaleb he had had “10 per cent” of his prostate removed.

“The 10 per cent where the cancer is,” he added.

The Who Wants To Be a Millionaire host started off this season of Clarkson’s Farm, which began filming in 2024, with a heart scare as doctors shared the TV star could have been days away from a heart attack.

Clarkson joked that season five of Clarkson’s Farm, which broadcasts the struggles of Britain’s under-fire farmers, had started “with me in a hospital bed”.

“We are at the end of season five… and I’m back in a hospital bed,” he said.

In the show, the camera cuts to the TV legend in a hospital bed once more.

“Some of the treatment has gone awry,” he says. “Let’s say… I’m going to be here for a little while. I’m nil by mouth, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“What I wanted to say was if this is all successful I’ll see you for season six, and if it isn’t I won’t. Take care everyone.”

Clarkson had hinted before the episode aired that something was amiss.

He shared a clip on Instagram yesterday warning viewers: “Sombre news, Clarkson’s Farm… Ordinarily we try to keep the show bucolic and charming and cheerful.

“But the final two episodes which drop in the middle of the night tonight are none of those things really. They’re a difficult watch. They’re really, really difficult.”

| PRIME VIDEO

Prime Video itself had trailed the fifth series of Clarkson’s Farm with the warning: “In the climactic episodes, things turn dark as bad luck strikes from every direction, causing massive upset and tension in every way possible.”

Though in a further update before the episode’s airing he shared “positive news” that his Hawkstone brewery had an advert approved to air just before the England game.

While his Hawkstone Choir, a 34-member ensemble brought together for an advert, became the first vocal group to win Britain’s Got Talent earlier this year.

He had previously said all ads featuring the choir had been banned due to being “a bit sweary”.

In 2005, Clarkson slipped two discs in his back due to excessive oversteering and was forced to stop driving for six months.

And in August 2017, he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia while on a family holiday in Mallorca, Spain.

| ITV

| GETTY

In October 2024, he revealed in his Sunday Times column he had a stent fitted after experiencing a “sudden deterioration” in his health after returning from a holiday.

Clarkson kicked off his career as a journalist with the Rotherham Advertiser.

He trained and worked there for around three years in the early 1980s before leaving to join the Shropshire Star as a motoring correspondent.

He would later move to TV as a presenter on the initial iteration of Top Gear – a magazine show far from the personality-driven show it would become.

Then he found stardom as he hosted the show’s revival in 2002, alongside Richard Hammond and James May.

The trio left the BBC in 2015, joining Prime Video with The Grand Tour, with the presenters reunited for a special show earlier this year.