BBC star shares health update on mum after she was trampled by sheep

Matt Baker with Mum Janice and Dad Mike in the country side
Matt Baker with Mum Janice and Dad Mike (Picture: Big Circus Media)

Former One Show host, Matt Baker has shared an update about his mother’s health three years after she was injured in a horrific farming accident. 

In 2021, soon after Matt, 46, resigned from the hit BBC show to spend more time with his family amid the Covid-19 lockdowns, he received a call from his dad, Mike, telling him that his mum, Janice, had a ‘really nasty accident’. 

Speaking to , soon after the accident, Matt said his mum was working in the sheep pen on the farm when she was knocked over by sheep and was rushed to hospital. 

He said she ‘smashed her leg so badly she needed a knee replacement.’ 

The situation resulted in Matt, his wife Nicola, and their two kids, Molly and Luke, going to the Durham Dales farm to help out. Now, three years later, he’s sharing an update on his mum. 

In an interview with The Sun, he said Janice is ‘doing really good’ and believes the accident was a ‘blessing in disguise’. 

Matt Baker leans on a car his dad is driving with mum poking her head out of a caravan in the background
The accident was a ‘blessing in disguise’ (Picture: Channel 4)

Matt Baker leans on a tractor
Matt has gone on to create multiple successful shows after his mum’s accident (Picture: BBC Studios/Pete Dadds)

The One Show presenter Matt Baker wears a black shirt as he leans on a green couch
The star was a former One Show presenter (Picture: BBC)

‘You know as your parents get older, farming is a really tough job and you just can’t keep going at that level,’ he said. 

‘So we reduced the flop down and changed the breeds over to stuff that’s easier for my mum to look after, because she’s the sort of, she’s the main checker there.

‘So we did that and things are going great now.’

Changes to the farm weren’t the only blessings from Janice’s accident, though. When Matt and his family returned to the farm, he was working on getting his production company, More4, up and running and ultimately ended up creating a show with his parents. 

Titled Our Farm in the Dales, the show followed Matt and his family as they completed their day-to-day operations on the farm, while also raising his young children and helping Janice recover from her surgery.

Matt Baker stands by a tractor
Matt and his family moved to the farm to help his mum after the accident (Picture: Mark Taylor)

Matt Baker with his parents Janice and Mike on the farm
Janice is doing much better after her 2021 sheep accident (Picture: Mark Taylor / Channel 4)

It was an instant success with fans, and upon its release in April 2021, the show became Channel 4’s biggest-ever series that spring.

Leading onto multiple spin-offs, Matt and his family remained firm favourites, and their festive spin-off of the show, Our Christmas in the Dales, became the most-watched show across all digital channels on December 25, 2021. 

Matt and his parents are now working on Travels with Mum and Dad, the third season of which kicked off on September 2. 

The wholesome, family-friendly series follows Matt as he takes his parents around North England, reliving old memories and making new ones along the way. 

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