It has been quite the year for actor and Strictly star Kelvin Fletcher and his wife Liz.
The couple have been busy, making a fly-on-the-wall show about their new life in the countryside, writing a book, squeezing in a bit of acting – oh, and adding twin boys to their family.
Kelvin, dad to Marnie, six, Milo, three, and Maximus and Mateusz, six months, says: “It may seem like we have a showbizzy life, but every top I’ve got has baby sick on the shoulder.
“That’s just the way it is, as any parent will tell you. There have been so many highlights this year.
“We’re still only in our second year on the farm with a lot to learn but it’s great.”
Kelvin, 38, and Liz have not looked back since February last year, when they moved from Manchester to their 120-acre farm in the beautiful Peak District.
They had planned to moved to the US, but had been thwarted by the pandemic. But Kelvin says: “We wouldn’t change it.”
The couple were delighted by the reaction to their BBC One series, Kelvin’s Big Farming Adventure. Kelvin, who won Strictly with Oti Mabuse in 2019, says: “It was an unknown for us, letting cameras into our home, but I was really proud of it.
“A young family taking on a bit of a challenge, people probably thought we were crazy. I’ve been in many petrol stations and buttie shops where a random builder has said, ‘I love that programme’. They don’t strike me as someone into farming.”
Liz, who starred in BBC One drama In The Club, says: “It’s been an amazing reaction. Farmers have welcomed us into the community and want to give us advice.”
Their book, Fletchers On The Farm, is the next chapter. Kelvin says: “It’s a real bio of our lives.
“A lot of my friends have bought it and asked me to sign it for their mums, for a little Christmas gift.”
Kelvin spent 20 years playing farmer Andy Sugden on ITV soap Emmerdale, but when it came to real farming, the couple were starting from scratch.
Talking of his role in Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre, Kelvin says: “I’ve just come off four months playing a 1940s RAF mechanic in a World War 2 comedy, that doesn’t mean I know how to fix a Spitfire.”
Kelvin and Liz knew each other as children and became a couple after Liz finished university. They married in London in 2015 after Kelvin had proposed on a beach in Wales.
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Kelvin is keen for their kids to get involved in acting. He says: “I think drama gives a young person self-confidence, awareness, empathy.”
Liz says: “Marnie’s showing a lot of interest, you see the joy on her face. She’s just got her first part as Chip in the local Beauty And The Beast pantomime.”
With lots of kids in the extended Fletcher family, the adults turn to Secret Santas at Christmas, pooling names to buy presents anonymously, each person getting one gift.
And this year Kelvin and Liz are supporting Action for Children’s Secret Santa campaign to raise money for vulnerable kids.
The campaign urges people to become Secret Santas, donating cash to pay for gifts, such £5 to give a child a healthy breakfast for a week, or £10 for a day’s food, £15 for toys and books or £25 for a Christmas gift. Kelvin says: “Children for me come first. This campaign helps make Christmas a little bit more special than it would normally be for the children most in need.”
Christmas Day on the farm is business as usual, with 60 sheep, three pigs, three alpacas and two rabbits to feed.
Kelvin says: “It would be nice to have a white Christmas, more work for me, but if it puts a smile on the kids’ faces it’d be worth it.”
- To become a Secret Santa, visit iamsanta.org.uk
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