Kelvin Fletcher is best known for playing

Andy Sugden on Emmerdale for 20 years,

but he’s since turned his hand to farming with his wife and four children

BBC Breakfast’s Saturday episode took an unexpected turn during a chat with Kelvin Fletcher. The 40-year-old actor, best known for his two-decade stint as Andy Sugden on Emmerdale, has since left the ITV soap in 2016 to pursue farming.

He, along with his wife Liz Marsland and their four children, have embarked on a new journey as novice farmers on a sprawling 120-acre plot at the fringe of the Peak District. Consequently, they’ve bagged their own shows, namely Kelvin’s Big Farming Adventure and Fletchers’ Family Farm.

During his appearance on BBC Breakfast, hosts Roger Johnson and Naga Munchetty quizzed Kelvin about his life as a farmer. Roger posed a question, referencing Jeremy Clarkson’s remarks about the meagre earnings from farming: “There was one thing that Jeremy Clarkson said, I think it was at the end of series one [of Jeremy’s own farming series Clarkson’s Farm] when he said how little money he’d made that year, literally, a handful of pounds. He said what’s it like for other farmers they don’t have a series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? or The Grand Tour to fall back on.

“Obviously you had your very successful acting career and then you made a very different choice,” reports Leeds Live.

However, Kelvin was quick to interject over assertions about his previous acting career: “I’ve still got it, it’s not gone yet!”

Roger probed further: “Does that help, I’m trying to get to the point here, do you need to rely on that in order to help make the farm work or can the farm stand on its own.”

Kelvin responded: “I think every farm is different, you know there’s many farmers out there with second jobs. I guess I’m one of those farmers with another job!” also mentioning that his farming venture, while “commercial”, represents more a lifestyle pivot for his family.Since leaving Emmerdale in 2016, Kelvin has claimed the Strictly Come Dancing crown in 2019 and has acted in shows including Death In Paradise, Moving On, The Teacher, McDonald and Dodds, and has been seen lately in Father Brown.