Former Emmerdale heartthrob Kelvin Fletcher has denied rumours that he's "ripping off" Jeremy Clarkson with his new farming TV programme.
Speaking on This Morning, actor Kelvin Fletcher, who stars in the new Channel 5 drama The Teacher, has insisted that his farming programme Kelvin's Big Farming Adventure is completely different to Jeremy's show Clarkson's Farm.
Kelvin, who played farmer Andy Sugden, revealed that he was already months into filming his show when Clarkson's Farm first aired.
Speaking on Tuesday's This Morning, the 38-year-old, spoke of the rival show fondly and explained how he and his wife are big fans of it.
Alison Hammond probed the star, asking him if he's taken any "tips" from Jeremy's programme, with Kelvin noting that there are quite a few farming shows he finds inspiring.
Kelvin said: "Clarkson's has been brilliant hasn't it? And there's so many of those programmes, Channel 5 have got one with Yorkshire Farm and Matt Baker's got one, we've been huge fans of those shows anyway!"
The This Morning host then asked him is the shows have aided him, before Kelvin explained that he was already several months into filming his own show before Clarkson's Farm hit TV screens up and down the country.
He said: "We were already three, four months into filming when Clarkson's came out. For me, they all represent something different, they all showcase what that industry is.
"We feel that we're a different show, we're two newbies, two newcomers but we're huge fans of their shows and hopefully they're fans of ours as well."
He then opened up about the reasons behind starting farming, when he said that he isn't too sure why, then revealed that he and his family "just wanted a change."
Kelvin added: "The sense of unknown has always excited me so we just wanted to seek a challenge. As an actor you always want to embrace the unknown.
"It was such a simple, wholesome way of living and then fast forward a commission with the BBC and the next thing we knew we have a BBC film crew filming our every move!"
He revealed that at first they didn't know what they were doing, but they "learnt fast" and are now wanting to be "recognised as proper farmers."
"We're not just playing at this," he urged, "this is a huge statement, a huge move to make for me and my family...
"We're really getting into farming, we're looking it and trying to understand that there's a lot of hard work, sometimes very little reward."
He concluded: "We're two people who were very green, who didn't know what they were doing but we've learnt fast and I'm absolutely committed that we would be recognised as proper farmers."
When Kelvin's show first aired, fans flocked to social media to share the stark similarities between the two programmes, but others enjoyed it and gave it rave reviews.
The first episode of Kelvin's Big Farming Adventure hit TV screens on Monday, January 17 at 8.30pm on BBC1, with episodes airing at the same time every Monday.
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