He found fame starring as tearaway Andy Sugden on Emmerdale for more than 20 years.
But Kelvin Fletcher’s latest venture has taken him from the Yorkshire Dales to a real life farm in the Peak District – where he’s tackling some less than glamorous adventures.
The Strictly winner, 39, has taken on the world of farming headfirst with zero experience along with his model wife Liz Marsland and their four children, Marnie, six, Milo, four, and one-year-old twin boys, Maximus and Mateusz. The experience is being filmed for Fletcher’s Family Farm on ITV.
And the first episode of their eight-part series shared a odd element of farming often kept under wraps – artificial insemination.
Since getting a taste of life in the countryside, Kelvin and his family had come to love their pigs, so much that they want to breed piglets.
But when the postman delivered a ‘very special’ package of sperm to the Fletcher household, Kelvin and Liz struggled to contain their laughter.
In the first episode of Fletcher’s Family Farm- Liz (far left) and Kelvin (far right) take on Artificial Insemination- and struggle to keep a straight face (pictured with their children)
Kelvin and his family have been exploring the thrills of farming life since moving in 2021, from raising their own cattle to enjoying fresh produce.
But since purchasing their livestock from other farmers, the couple had yet to venture into the world of breeding.
The process, which involves the insertion of semen into the reproductive canal of a female animal, was a total new learning curve for the Strictly star and his wife.
The artificial insemination kit was delivered directly to the Peak District farm by the postman.
‘Right Liz, there’s your present. I didn’t get you anything for Valentines so you can have that,’ Kelvin joked as he handed the unusual package filled with sperm to his wife.
But after Kelvin relayed the bizarre instructions to his spouse, neither could keep a straight face.
‘It’s like buying a piece of furniture, flat pack furniture,’ Kelvin added.
Nevertheless, the first-time farmers took to the barn armed with the instructions ‘ready to give this pig insemination a go’.
Kelvin and Liz struggled on their first try at Artificial Insemination- and the results were likely to be unsuccessful
‘When Kelvin said: ‘Do you fancy buying a farm?’ This is not what I expected, Liz said.
But despite a can-do attitude, the novice farmer’s revealed that the process truly is as complex as it sounds.
After a slight sperm spillage, Kelvin managed to get the pig to bend down to enable the process to go ahead, ‘it’s not the most romantic way to get them going,’ Liz said.
But after an incorrect positioning during the insertion on Kelvin’s behalf, the process was likely unsuccessful.
But the first-time venture was not complete without a barrel of laughs from the first-time farmers: ‘I’m crying’ Liz added.
It’s three years since Kelvin bought the farm, almost on a whim. He and Liz, with their children Marnie and Milo, were resolute townies. He’d never set foot on a farm until he started work on Emmerdale.
Kelvin Fletcher (pictured with his family), who played Andy Sugden in Emmerdale for 20 years and lifted the Strictly glitterball in 2019, and his actress wife Liz, bought a 120-acre farm
It’s three years since Kelvin bought the farm, almost on a whim. He and Liz (pictured), with their children Marnie and Milo, were resolute townies. He’d never set foot on a farm until he started work on Emmerdale
Also, having just won Strictly, he seemed to have the entertainment world at his feet and was actually planning with Liz to move to LA to take his acting career to the next level.
But then lockdown hit, the diary emptied and one day Kelvin spotted a farm with a ‘for sale’ sign, and fell in love. Life lurched in the most unlikely direction.
In January 2021 Kelvin was mulling over some programme ideas with a TV producer and mentioned the farm, almost in passing.
The producer thought it sounded like a sitcom – a modern-day The Good Life – and suggested this should be his next television project, having cameras follow the couple’s progress. A BBC series, Kelvin’s Big Farming Adventure, duly followed.
Viewers might have suspected that Kelvin’s foray into farming would be a fleeting one. He barely knew one end of a sheep from the other, and at one point, as he was shown how to deal with maggots in a hoof, he slid to the floor in a near faint.
Now, though? A completely new series, Fletcher’s Family Farm on ITV, picks up the story – and what a transformation! Once the idea might have made him retch, but now he’s a pro.
Fletcher’s Family Farm airs on ITV1 on Sunday 15th October 2023 11.30am and 7pm on ITVBe.