Alastair Stewart admitted he always looked forward to tuning into Countryfile but is admittedly unimpressed by the BBC‘s new show format as viewers claimed the show is “too woke”.
The 71-year-old took to X, formerly Twitter, and shared his thoughts on Sunday night’s episode which was hosted by presenter Anita Rani.
Countryfile airs weekly on BBC One and reports on various rural, agricultural, and environmental issues as they celebrate the beauty of the British countryside.
Alastair took to the micro-blogging site and penned: “I fear BBC Countryfile has lost its way…”
In a follow-up post, Alastair wrote: “I used to love and look forward to Countryfile I think it had become tedious and stable and a bit politically correct.”
His comments sparked a social media divide as fans of the show praised the BBC content while others agreed with Alastair’s sentiment.
An X user tweeted: “Did a while back. Woke fest,” while a second remarked: “Used to love it. When city people started presenting and showed a huge lack of understanding of the countryside we switched off. At times too much make-up, fashionable clothing. It has been superb at times and raised key issues.”
A third said: “Sadly not watched for years as went to political and wokeish.”
Others disagreed as one wrote: “In what way? Today it covered: Snowdrops / Villagers banding together to save rural pubs/lungwort / one of the 4 young/new farmers they’re following. Seems varied and down to earth. Problem?”
Another penned: “Still a decent programme. A huge issue for it is that it isn’t focusing on stunning geographical features of UK or its brilliant farming culture enough. Instead, it is focusing on local businesses and artists. For me, that should be a separate programme. Clarkson’s Farm more authentic.”
Countryfile has continued to be one of the BBC‘s most watched shows having racked in five million viewers watching an episode in October 2023 alone, The Times previously reported.
At its peak, the programme was watched by up to seven million viewers on Sunday evenings back in 2015 and enjoyed the highest ratings of any “factual programme” on British TV — even at times attracting higher viewing figures than Coronation Street.
Countryfile airs Sunday on BBC One at 5pm
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