Visitors to the Northumberland County Show might have spotted a star in the Main Arena at today's Grand Parade.
While the animals were being judged for the Champion of Champions, which was eventually won by a Limousin Cow named Upperfrydd Power, Grantchester and Extreme Fishing star Robson Green was trying to get to grips with a Hereford Bull. Robson was at the show filming for his new programme which he says will be a love letter to the North East, which he is filming with his Uncle Matteson, who introduced him to fishing.
He said: "For this episode that we're shooting now, Matteson and I are going on a journey through the North East celebrating and showcasing everything that's good about it. The locations, the people and that sense of identity and belonging, and this show here today is a great sense of everything in that brief.
"It's a great celebration of rural life - it's an immersive experience that breaks into the North East and showcases ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Being from up here, we want to do this love letter to the North East."
The show, which has a working title of Robson Green's Dirty Weekends, has been commissioned for BBC2 and the actor and presenter, who is from Northumberland, is part of the BBC's commitment to spend £25m in the North East over the next five years. However, when the show was commissioned he would not have expected to be holding a Hereford Bull in the main ring of the Northumberland County Show.
He continued: "My boss handed me the bull - that wasn't in the contract! I've got this Hereford Bull that was nearly a tonne.
"I might have been smiling but my eyes were doing something completely different. I was thinking, if this takes off or if there's a battle between me and the bull, there's only going to be one winner!"
Robson also touched on how important the Northumberland County Show is for those who live in the area. He added: "We can feel the hype of all these people seeing each other for the first time in ages, it's a joy.
"Not only that, it's been awhile since lockdown and all these people are reconnecting. My favourite line so far is I heard someone say 'I have loved meeting all these people I have missed, even the ones I don't like!'"
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