British presenter Jeremy Clarkson reveals cancer diagnosis on his TV show

British TV presenter and media personality Jeremy Clarkson, best known for hosting the motoring shows Top Gear and The Grand Tour, has revealed he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate ​cancer.

Clarkson, 66, one of the U.K.’s most well-known and high-profile TV figures, shared the news during filming of his hit Amazon show Clarkson’s Farm, in episodes that aired on Wednesday.

“I’ve got cancer,” Clarkson told two of the show’s other main characters in a sombre scene shot last year.

“I ​had a medical, remember, back in May? I disappeared off the other week ​and I had a biopsy and it is cancer, and it’s aggressive.”

Clarkson revealed that the cancer was caught early and that he had since undergone a procedure to remove 10 per cent of his prostate.

“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,” he said. “It’s only because they did catch it early, there’s every hope that I’ll be harvesting this farm for many, ​many years to come.”

In an Instagram video posted Tuesday, ahead of the episodes airing, Clarkson warned viewers they were in for a “difficult watch.”

“Ordinarily, we try to keep the show bucolic, charming and cheerful,” ‌he ⁠said. “But the final two episodes, which drop in the middle of the night tonight, are … they’re none of those things, really,” he told his followers.

Clarkson, a controversial figure, found global fame as one of three presenters of the BBC’s Top Gear, which he fronted for 13 years alongside James May and Richard Hammond, but lost his job after he punched a member of the production team in 2015. The trio then moved to Amazon, where they hosted The Grand Tour, which ran from 2016 to 2024.

He subsequently began ​making his ⁠successful documentary-style series Clarkson’s Farm, also on Amazon, which follows his often haphazard and comedic foray into operating Diddly Squat Farm just outside the idyllic English village of Chadlington, Oxfordshire.

His partner, Lisa, who runs the farm’s shop, and several recurring characters have gained popularity among the British public for their humorous squabbles, tendency to muddle through the challenges of farming and bureaucracy, and heartfelt connection to the farm’s animals.

The shop is highly popular and regularly attracts large crowds, who often line up outside. Clarkson also owns and operates a pub in the area called the Farmer’s Dog that serves food, drinks and ingredients exclusively grown or raised in Britain.

Addressing his diagnosis from a hospital bed during the final episode of Season 5, he said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen. But look, what I wanted to say was: ⁠if ​this is all successful, I’ll see you for Season 6, and ​if it isn’t, I won’t. Take care, everyone.”

— with files from Reuters