Noel Edmonds is poised for a major TV return with a Clarkson’s Farm style show set on his New Zealand estate.
The telly icon, who became a true household name alongside Mr Blobby on Noel’s House Party in 1991, has reportedly signed a whopping £1 million deal with ITV following a ‘frenzied’ 10-month bidding war.
It’s said the three-part series will see Noel, 75, working on the vineyards at his 11-hectare River Haven estate, and pulling pints in his 17th-century pub.
It all sounds very Jeremy Clarkson, which could be a recipe for success, while Noel has even run a ‘positivity’ radio station for pets and plants.
‘Noel’s incredible — and very eccentric — life is going to make TV gold,’ an insider told The Sun.
There’s hope that the show will give New Zealand tourism a boost as the nation – where Noel has called his home since 2019 – still struggles ‘with the after-effects’ of lockdown regulations.
‘Execs are hoping that Noel will do for tourism what Jeremy has for British farming,’ the source said. ‘For his part, Noel would like the world to know he hasn’t retired, and this chapter of his life is a new adventure.
‘There was a feeding frenzy from production companies to secure the rights, and everyone knows this could be a huge comeback for Noel.’
Potato, the production company behind The Chase, Ninja Warrior and more, is said to be on board for the show.
This new show – provisionally titled Noel’s Haven – would mark his first major UK TV project in almost a decade.
While Noel’s stint on Deal or No Deal officially ended in 2016, one year after his last celebrity special, he has only made sporadic appearances.
His gameshow sitcom hybrid Cheap Cheap Cheap didn’t grab viewers in 2017, while his last mainstream appearance on UK telly was I’m A Celebrity six years ago.
Noel first presented Top of the Pops in the 1970s, before an extended BBC run fronting Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, and even appearances on Top Gear between 1979 and 1999, as well as a stint on the Beeb’s Late, Late Breakfast Show in the 1980s.
After some success with Telly Addicts and The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow, it was Noel’s House Party – which ran from 1991 to 1999 – that turned him into a true star.
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