It seems to be turning into a rite of passage for former Top Gear hosts who have been the subject of public opprobrium.
Noel Edmonds is set to follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Clarkson by presenting a new TV series from his country retreat. The presenter, 75, who began working as a DJ in the late 1960s, has reportedly signed a £1m deal to return to television after a six-year gap by presenting a series from his park and vineyard in New Zealand.
“Noel’s incredible, and very eccentric, life is going to make TV gold,” an unnamed source told the Sun.
It is understood the show will be broadcast on ITV. The channel will be hoping it repeats the success of Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm, hosted by the former Top Gear host Clarkson, which has proved an unlikely global hit, including in China.
Channel 4 also broadcasts a celebrity-run farm show, Our Dream Farm, with the former Top Gear host Matt Baker.
Edmonds began his TV career in the 1970s as a presenter of Top of the Pops and went on to host the Saturday morning children’s show Multi-coloured Swap Shop, which ran from 1976 to 1982. He was a presenter on the second series of Top Gear and hosted a series of quizshows, including Telly Addicts and Deal Or No Deal, which ended in 2016 after about 3,000 episodes.
Edmonds currently runs River Haven, a rural retreat in Ngatimoti on New Zealand’s South Island which, as well as a vineyard, includes a restaurant, a pub, cycle rides and vintage cars. He manages the retreat with his wife, Liz, whom he married after meeting her when she worked as a makeup artist on Deal Or No Deal.
Edmonds was a contestant on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in 2018 and was the first to be eliminated in the year the football boss Harry Redknapp won the contest.
After Deal Or No Deal, which became famous for its red boxes containing cash prizes from 1p to the £250,000 jackpot, was axed by Channel 4, Edmonds embarked on a farewell tour of the UK. He took the show’s 22 red boxes to the audience at recognisable landmarks.
Just nine people walked away with the £250,000 jackpot during the original 11-year run. In 2023, Deal Or No Deal returned on ITV with Stephen Mulhern taking on hosting duties.
Edmonds briefly hosted the Channel 4 comedy show Cheap Cheap Cheap in 2017.
• This article was amended on 9 September 2024. Noel Edmonds was not a presenter of the first series of Top Gear, although he did present later shows.
