The explosion of countryside TV helping treat our ‘nature deficit disorder’
Last month, BBC1's Countryfile achieved its highest ratings ever. A whopping 8.7 million live viewers tuned in on 7 February, making it the most popular programme on British television that week (beating War & Peace, Six Nations rugby and Call the Midwife). Countryfile's figures just keep rising, from an already-impressive average of 5.9 million viewers a week in 2014 and 6.2 million in 2015. So what is it about countryside telly that has the nation gripped?
"I imagine that it must be because our lives are so fast, in work and business and the world of technology," says Adam Henson, who has been a Countryfile presenter for 15 years. "We're slaves to our phones. If we can turn those off and just watch something gentle and beautiful and lovely - and interesting and informative - in our living rooms on a Sunday night, it's a bit of respite and reality."
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