Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
The 66-year-old shared the news in the final episodes of season five of Clarkson’s Farm, telling co-stars Charlie Ireland and Kaleb Cooper: “I’ve got cancer.”
After Cooper asked where the cancer was, Clarkson replied: “Where it is is of no concern of anybody. I’ve known since May.”
He said he underwent a biopsy after a medical check-up and was told the cancer was aggressive, but had been caught at a “really early” stage.
In the episodes that dropped overnight into Wednesday, Clarkson says he expects to undergo surgery within weeks and that he will be “slightly out of action” during recovery. He adds that he had hoped to finish the harvest before beginning treatment, but said it would instead fall “slap bang in the middle”.
He later reveals that the cancer was in his prostate and that he had undergone a procedure to remove part of it.
“The prostate, 10 per cent of it’s dead,” he said. “The 10 per cent where the cancer is.”
Later in the episode, he is seen speaking from a hospital bed, saying some of the treatment had “gone awry”. “I’m going to be here for a little while,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“What I wanted to say was if this is all successful, I’ll see you in season six, and if it isn’t, I won’t,” he said. “Take care, everyone.”
Best known as the outspoken former host of long-running motoring series Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson later returned to screens with The Grand Tour and the hit farming series Clarkson’s Farm.
Before the final episodes of season five of Clarkson’s Farm aired, Clarkson warned fans on Instagram that they would be “really, really difficult” to watch.
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In a 2025 column for The Sunday Times, Clarkson had written that he gets medical check-ups every couple of years and undergoes regular prostate examinations.
“I’ve had too many friends go down with prostate cancer, and all it takes to get on top of the situation early is a moment or two of being a bit cross-eyed,” he wrote. “You get the all-clear and the doc goes home happy. What’s not to like?
Clarkson’s Farm farmhand Gerald Cooper revealed in season three that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer before later being declared cancer-free in 2024.
Prostate cancer develops in the prostate gland, a small gland below the bladder that helps produce semen. It is often slow-growing and symptomless in its early stages, and the risk rises with age, family history, and certain genetic mutations.
Common symptoms include frequent urination, difficulty peeing, weak urine flow, and blood in urine or semen; advanced cases may cause pelvic or back pain and unexplained weight loss.
According to Prostate Cancer UK, prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK, with more than 64,000 new cases recorded in 2022.
