Doctors have expressed optimism for Jeremy Clarkson after early detection of his prostate cancer, noting that most cases caught at this stage are now curable.
In the closing episodes of Clarkson’s Farm’s fifth season, released recently, the well-known broadcaster disclosed his diagnosis of what he described as ‘aggressive’ cancer.
The episodes captured an emotional Clarkson, aged 66, sharing the difficult news with his co-stars Charlie Ireland and Kaleb Cooper, who manage the Diddly Squat Farm alongside him in the Cotswolds.
On the Amazon Prime Video series, filmed between late 2024 and September 2025, Clarkson recounted receiving his diagnosis in May of the previous year. He explained to Kaleb that 10 percent of his prostate, the area affected by cancer, was already ‘dead.’
Following his diagnosis, Clarkson began treatment and underwent surgery in August, with the series concluding on a suspenseful note as he was urgently taken back to the hospital.
Consultant clinical oncologist Professor Joe O’Sullivan, professor of radiation oncology at Queen’s University Belfast said it was a positive that the cancer had been diagnosed early.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘Clarkson is lucky to have caught it at this early stage. Had it been picked up later, he’d be facing a much worse diagnosis, and it might have even been too late.
‘As with most cancers, the earlier you catch prostate cancer the better. As time goes on, the more likely it is to spread and that is particularly true of aggressive cancers, like Clarkson’s.
‘Increasingly, we are getting better at treating localised prostate cancer – irrespective of how ‘aggressive’ it is. We can now cure the vast majority of these with radiation or surgery.
Jeremy Clarkson was visibly emotional as he revealed his devastating cancer diagnosis in the latest episodes of his Prime Video show Clarkson’s Farm
Taking to Instagram ahead of the release of the final episodes overnight, Clarkson revealed in an emotional video that they are a ‘really, really difficult watch’
He shared the news with shaken co-stars Charlie and Kaleb Cooper during a scene on the show
‘But usually when cancer spreads, it becomes incurable. Being overweight, and having a larger waistline, is a risk factor for prostate cancer – there’s no doubt about it at all.
‘Leading a generally healthy lifestyle, so cutting back on saturated fat and alcohol, eating well and exercising – as well as getting high cholesterol down – will reduce the risk of prostate cancer. We know rates of the disease are higher where there is more obesity. These are well-established facts.’
Clarkson has been seen in public several times in recent months – including supporting his Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir at Britain’s Got Talent when they won the ITV show’s final last month; and making an appearance at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
He also attended the National Television Awards at The O2 Arena last September when Clarkson’s Farm won the Factual Entertainment prize, appearing with fellow cast members on stage. This was just one month after he underwent an operation.
The final episode of his show concluded with the presenter telling viewers: ‘If this is all successful I’ll see you for season six and if it isn’t I won’t. Take care everyone.’
Clarkson was talking about plans for the upcoming harvest with Kaleb and Charlie when the broadcaster dropped the bombshell news on them.
After establishing the farm’s crops will be ready for harvest at the end of July, Clarkson exhales and says: ‘F***’.
As Kaleb asks if he is ‘going away’, Clarkson leans back into his chair and, while struggling to keep his composure, tells the shell-shocked pair: ‘Yep. I’ve got cancer.’
A disbelieving Kaleb quickly says back: ‘No, you haven’t. Where?’ to which Clarkson says: ‘Where it is of no concern of anybody. I’ve known since May.’
The father-of-three goes on to reveal he has been diagnosed with an ‘aggressive’ form of cancer and will have to take time off during the harvest.
Clarkson was seen supporting his Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir at Britain’s Got Talent when they won the ITV show’s final last month
Clarkson also made an appearance to watch the racing at the Cheltenham Festival in March
Clarkson attended the National Television Awards at The O2 Arena last September, appearing with fellow cast members on stage. This was just one month after he underwent an operation
While telling Kaleb and Charlie the news, Clarkson says: ‘I had a medical, you remember back in May. I disappeared off the other week and I had a biopsy and it is cancer and it’s aggressive, but it’s really early so the treatment will be, you know.
‘I was 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.’
Meanwhile, a tearful Kaleb – who is seen wiping his eyes during the conversation – throws his support behind him, saying: ‘Look after yourself, you go and do… if you need anything you just ring me.’
Clarkson reveals that treatment includes an operation right in the middle of harvest time, and that as a result his body will be ‘out of action for a little while’, adding that he ‘wasn’t thrilled’ at the prospect.
Charlie tells him: ‘I just wish you a very, very speedy recovery.’
He then quickly turns back to harvest arrangements, telling the pair that his girlfriend, Lisa Hogan, will need to take on some of his duties.
The farm faced a desperate race to harvest its barley and wheat before his treatment, with matters complicated by Kaleb’s wife being due to give birth to the couple’s third child.
While carrying out the harvest, Clarkson hails early detection and intervention as the ‘only reason there is any hope’.
‘If I hadn’t have got myself checked out and they hadn’t caught the problem early this could well have been my last harvest. It’s only because they did catch it early there’s any hope. I’ll be harvesting this farm for many, many years to come.’
In a later scene, the presenter says he was given just six days notice ahead of his operation, which took place at a hospital in London on August 4.
In scenes filmed the day before, Clarkson looks nervous as he and Lisa leave the farm. ‘I’ll see you on the flip side,’ he tells Kaleb.
After revealing his diagnosis the programme shows Clarkson in a hospital bed, where he reveals ‘some of the treatment has gone awry’
He told viewers that he would be returning for series six of Clarkson’s farm if ‘all goes well’
Clarkson was seen shaking Kaleb’s hand as he departed the farm after sharing the diagnosis with them
In what were originally the final scenes of the series, Clarkson tells Lisa, Kaleb, Charlie and farmhand Gerald: ‘So we started the year and I had coronary heart disease and ended it with me with cancer.’
He continues: ‘We can dwell as much as we like on all the bad things that have happened on the farm but I think it is better now at the end of the year to focus on things that have happened that are good.’
When asked by Kaleb when they will know if the treatments have worked on the cancer, he replies: ‘I don’t know, I’ve got a blood test today, there’ll be a blood test and then we’ll know.
‘Not for another few weeks. Come on cheer up, it probably did work.’
Clarkson reveals that filming had wrapped after the fireside chat, but matters changed after he was rushed back to hospital. The final episode cuts to an ambulance with blue lights, and then the presenter in a hospital bed, where he reveals things haven’t gone completely to plan.
He says: ‘Some of the treatment has gone awry, 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 beforehand that not all was well, and in a press release ahead of the first episodes of the fifth season, Prime Video ominously warned: ‘In the climactic episodes, things turn dark as bad luck strikes from every direction, causing massive upset and tension in every way possible.’
Taking to Instagram ahead of the release of the final episodes overnight, Clarkson revealed in an openly emotional video that they are a ‘really, really difficult watch.’
After sharing that his lager and cider brand Hawkstone would have an advert ahead of England’s first World Cup match tonight, he continued: ‘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, they’re none of those things really, they’re a difficult watch.’
The presenter, 66, previously fell ill with excruciating chest pains in 2024 and was rushed to hospital by ambulance, where doctors discovered one of his arteries was ‘completely blocked’
Becoming visibly emotional, he added: ‘They’re really, really difficult.’
Just two days ago Jeremy was showing off his trademark sense of humour, plugging his beer brand while celebrating British drivers coming first, second and third in the Barcelona Grand Prix.
Clarkson has kept busy since the show was filmed, with production currently underway for the new series of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which he hosts, while a sixth season of Clarkson’s Farm has been ordered by Prime Video.
Production of the next series is expected to pause to allow Clarkson time to recover.
Broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted a photo of him with Clarkson today, writing: ‘I was surprised when Jeremy Clarkson texted me on Boxing Day to say how much he liked my Paddy Power ad urging men to get tested for prostate cancer.
‘Now I understand. I wish my old sparring partner all the best with his treatment. Guys, have a PSA test, it may save your life.’
Clarkson’s co-star Gerald Cooper was also treated for prostate cancer and underwent surgery in 2023 – before the show’s producers confirmed in 2024 he was cancer-free.
Clarkson’s diagnosis comes after a difficult couple of years for the broadcaster, who was rushed to hospital in 2024 after suffering from chest pains.
While on the ward, doctors discovered one of his arteries was ‘completely blocked’ with the presenter later saying he had been ‘days from death’.
Fortunately surgeons were able to resolve the issue by inserting a stent – a tiny, expandable mesh tube that is placed in narrow or blocked coronary arteries to restore and aid the flow of blood.
When he returned to work after that health scare in one of the early episodes of the fifth series, Clarkson told Kaleb: ‘I’m back and not dead. The grim reaper will have to wait. It was f***ing close, though.’
The former Top Gear host revealed he first felt unwell in 2024 following a swim in the Indian Ocean while on holiday.
He explained that ‘it wasn’t far, maybe the length of two swimming pools. But when I finally reached the beach, there was more water in my lungs than there is in Lake Superior, and I was mostly dead.’
Clarkson returned to Britain and a ‘sudden deterioration began to gather pace’ with him feeling ‘clammy’, ‘tightness in my chest’, and ‘pins and needles in my left arm.’
This led him to being admitted to hospital where a heart attack was ruled out after he had an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests and X-rays.
Following the life-saving surgery, he was warned by doctors that he must make major changes to his lifestyle.
Since it was first released on Amazon Prime in 2021, Clarkson’s Farm has become a huge hit and gone on to have four successful series.
Q&A on prostate cancer
What is prostate cancer?
It is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the prostate, a gland next to the bladder, the main function of which is to help produce semen. More than 63,000 men are diagnosed with it a year and more than 12,000 die from it.
Early prostate cancer often has no symptoms, which is why charities and their supporters want a screening programme.
Who is at higher risk?
Most cases of prostate cancer are in men over the age of 65 and risk goes up with every year. Black men have double the risk.
Any man with a family history of the disease is also at higher risk and men with a brother or father diagnosed with prostate cancer have a two to four-fold greater risk of developing prostate cancer.
The BRCA2 gene mutation is linked to a higher chance of developing the cancer at a younger age and in a more aggressive form.
Of 100 men with a BRCA2 variant, between 21 and 35 of them will develop the cancer by the age of 80.
What is the latest recommendation?
The UK National Screening Committee has recommended screening for a very limited group of a ‘few thousand’ men.
It says men with BRCA2 genetic mutations should be screened every two years, between the ages of 45 and 61, if they have a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancers.
How does this differ to the draft recommendations?
In November the draft said men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations should be screened.
Experts said recent data suggests the risk of developing prostate cancer is ‘significantly lower’ among those with the BRCA1 variant.
What happens now?
The recommendation has been submitted to the Government, with the UKNSC set to meet new Health Secretary James Murray on Monday.
The Department of Health said Mr Murray ‘will give full and careful consideration to the recommendation’ and will update on the Government’s response shortly.
He can accept or overrule the committee.
Why is the committee’s decision controversial?
The committee says PSA blood tests can be unreliable and many prostate cancers progress too slowly to cause problems or early death.
Treating these can put men at unnecessary risk of impotence and incontinence, with screening doing do more harm than good, they say.
But campaigners point to evidence showing screening slashes men’s risk of dying from the disease by 13 per cent and say new diagnostic processes are more accurate at identifying cases that need treating.
The decision does not prevent men requesting a PSA test from their GP after discussing the risks and benefits.
