Reuben Owen: ‘I don't want a TV career, I want to be known as the guy who digs big holes'
We are in a Cumbrian field, just over the border from his native Yorkshire, and Reuben Owen is taking a break from levelling land for a new milking parlour. The sun is blazing down on the parched, craggy hills, while Texel lambs are bleating their presence. But Owen, 21, only has eyes for his heavy machinery.
The second series of Reuben Owen: Life in the Dales is about to hit our television screens, but it's fair to say that Owen remains almost comically unchanged by fame.
'The proudest moment of my life wasn't taking part in any TV show, it was the day I got my name on my own digger,' he says, face straight as Geoffrey Boycott's cricket bat. 'When that customised sticker was put on, saying 'Reuben Owen', I knew that I had really accomplished something.'
If you're thinking that sounds a little bit bonkers – given that he is the eldest son of the ' Yorkshire Shepherdess ' and therefore a scion of a rural reality-show dynasty – you wouldn't be wrong. And that's what makes him TV gold.
'I can't believe I have my own heavy-machinery company, aged 21, and if the cameras want to follow me and watch, then that's great,' he says. 'The production crew love it when something goes wrong, of course, but we always find a way through. In the country, people have to be self-sufficient, we can turn our hands to almost anything and we always help each other out.'
Reuben is the eldest son of Amanda Owen and her now ex-husband Clive, whose everyday life has had us all hooked since their first observational documentary series way back in 2018. Since then, we have watched the highs and lows of the couple and their brood of nine free-range children at their remote home of Ravenseat Farm – aka Our Yorkshire Farm.
Needless to say, when his parents separated in 2022, it sparked a tabloid frenzy. There was talk of acrimony, and it was revealed that Amanda had started a new relationship after the separation – but after a brief pause, the broadcasting juggernaut trundled on. There was Beyond the Yorkshire Farm: Reuben & Clive, a spin-off Channel 5 series that showed the father and son duo launching the digging business. Then came Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids on Channel 4, where they renovated a derelict farmhouse.
So far, so predictable. Who doesn't like lambs? Who doesn't get overinvested in property-makeover shows? But with Reuben: Life in the Dales we are talking about heavy machinery; 14-ton diggers, huge wagons, quarrying equipment. There isn't even the archetypal canine eye-candy of a winsome Jack Russell keeping Reuben company in the cab.
'A dog would get run over, squashed under the wheels,' says Owen, matter-of-factly. Everything he says is matter-of-fact. In the whole time we meet he doesn't once use the phrase 'my lived experience' or 'safe space'. 'I also haven't got the time to train a dog properly, but I'm sure the day will come when I get one.'
He's quietly charming, and is touchingly smitten by his new girlfriend, Jessica Ellwood, also 21, with a smile as wide as the River Swale. She hails from a nearby farming family and can really drive a digger – the ultimate compliment from Reuben. He joins her rounding up sheep, she helps as and when – they are such hard workers, it's the best (sometimes the only) way of getting quality time together.
'Jess is so happy and chilled out,' he says, his eyes crinkling as his slow beam spreads from ear to ear. 'We met at a Young Farmers' event and it was the biggest stroke of luck. She's not bothered by the filming, either, which is great; the telly thing brings a bit of money into the pot, which is useful.'
That's all well and good, although at first glance a casual viewer might wonder if it's not rather odd to commission a series (let alone a second series) about a young man and his passion for heavy machinery. Then again, a great many of us said the same about two blokes angling – cue Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing garnering nearly two million viewers per episode. Old, broken stuff? Nobody could have guessed King Charles himself, then Prince of Wales, would turn up at The Repair Shop with heirlooms to fix.
So why not Reuben Owen driving his digger? And, in truth, it's surprisingly relaxing to watch him with his great big strapping mates grafting at the quarry, or playing highly competitive tug-of-war. Here is the very definition of good, clean mucky fun and the perfect antidote to the spectre of toxic masculinity that hangs over television dramas.
In this new run, we see Reuben punctiliously training up his younger brother Miles, 18, in driving diggers and tractors, and when he muses 'we are always short of staff', I almost suggest three urban lads and a lass I know personally who would benefit from a summer season in the great all-weather outdoors. I doubt Owen would be in the least bit fazed if they turned up tomorrow in their box-fresh Nikes and pristine Stüssy tracksuits.
He takes people as he finds them. 'What I do is all about people,' he says sagely. 'I love digging holes, but the success of a business isn't down to the diggers, you need good people you can trust and rely on. Yes, I'm in a position where I'm able to employ my friends, but I would do anything for them and they would for me.'
He is clearly his own man and credits his confidence to his upbringing, when the unofficial motto was very much 'fortune favours the brave'. At a time when all small farmers are being forced to diversify, his family have elected to enjoy a parallel telly existence. His mother, in particular, has become a successful presenter in her own right.
But Owen concedes there is a downside to the spotlight: 'The media still likes to dig up my parents' separation, making out there was some massive battle when there wasn't,' he says. 'I know how it went and it was all very amicable. They grew apart and split up, but they are still brilliant parents, whether they're together or not. Every now and again, there will be a headline about some little thing that has been blown up out of all proportion. But you can't be on telly and then expect people not to be interested in what you're doing off-screen.'
The day we meet, there is a tabloid brouhaha about images posted online by Amanda, which snowflake townies thought were pictures of Owen 'manhandling' a sheep. He was actually helping a distressed ewe give birth to a live lamb. But Owen was blissfully unaware of it all.
'I don't have the time or the inclination to scroll through social media,' he says. 'If you do ever see me on my phone, I'll be searching for machinery sales. I don't want a career on television, I want to be known as the guy who digs big holes; my current ambition is to buy a 50-ton excavator. Now that really would be the realisation of a dream.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
15 minutes ago
- Times
Nicola Sturgeon's memoir rewrites history with confidence
Nicola Sturgeon's memoir has claimed independence from factual accuracy. The book, Frankly, is littered with small errors, such as the former first minister's claim that the reconvened Scottish parliament of 1999 contained more women than had ever been elected to Westminster. This could not have been achieved even if every single MSP had been a woman, but it evaded a fact-checker's pen. Other mistakes are more personal. Sturgeon recalls how, after wiping out all bar one of the Labour MPs in Scotland in 2015, she boarded a flight for London to wild applause. She even claims that Tom Harris, one of the defeated MPs, was there looking on. 'It isn't true,' said Harris, who was confused with another ex-MP. 'What is the point of the anecdote in the first place other than to crow … about a defeated opponent?' Harris said. 'Stay classy, Nic.' This would be another example of Sturgeon's self-proclaimed emotional intelligence. It's three strikes and you're out for Jeremy Hunt as he insists he will not seek the Tory leadership again. The former chancellor told The Rest Is Politics that his wife 'would have something to say' if he ran a fourth time, which left one of his hosts very upset. 'I'll encourage you to think again,' said the banished Conservative Rory Stewart. 'You're the one person who would make me rejoin the Conservative Party and come in behind you.' Good news for Mrs Hunt — the Stewart endorsement is more fatal than hemlock. Among the cast of The Thick of It, the actor Alex Macqueen was a politics nerd sans pareil. The man who played the blue-skies thinker Julius Nicholson once worked as a tour guide in the Houses of Parliament, which he said was 'a Disney cruise liner for politicos'. However, this analogy only works if Mickey Mouse's ship was a little unseaworthy. 'It was a luxurious place to work,' Macqueen told Times Radio. 'But I know there are regular fires that break out and it needs a bit of TLC.' Oh, it all shambles along — the nice thing about the fires in Westminster is that they're soon put out by the leaks. The comedian Jimmy Carr is still paying for past mistakes. Carr, who is the Ken Dodd of his generation, though not when it comes to the comedy, is doing two shows a night on his current tour. 'One show at 7pm and one at 9.30pm,' he explained. 'One for me and one for HMRC.' Carr's career survived revelations about his tax affairs, which is good for him as he loves the work. Asked by an audience member in Bath if he would do his job free, he said: 'Probably. In fact, I think that effectively happened once when the tax bill came in.' The chat show presenter Graham Norton spends an awful lot of time saying nice things about people, and this can come back to bite him. He recalls that a friend was once raving to him about a book so much that she promised to get Norton a copy. He was excited, but when the book was delivered the friend informed Norton that he'd already read it. 'No, I haven't,' he said. 'I don't remember anything about this book at all.' When he then picked up the novel, he saw his name on the cover. It was beneath the quote 'Unforgettable characters'.
The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
Alex Kingston makes first Strictly statement as Doctor Who star confirmed for BBC show
Alex Kingston has shared with her fans some of her dancing moves after the BBC confirmed that the Doctor Who actress will join the cast for this year's Strictly Come Dancing. Posting a video of herself practicing some footwork on Monday (11 August), the 62-year-old actor sung the show's theme tune before looking at the camera and saying: "Strictly… just dancing.' In the post's caption, she wrote: 'Hello sweeties… Spoilers are out! I'm getting ready to shake my hips all the way to a glitter ball trophy. Strictly 2025 here I come!!' Kingston was the second celebrity announced as part of the this year's cast for the hit dancing show, which returns to screens Autumn 2025.
Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Tulisa Contostavlos takes centre stage in glossy cover shoot for 'brutally honest and redemptive' memoir detailing her rise to fame and devastating fall from grace
Tulisa Contostavlos takes centre stage in a glossy new cover shoot - but this time it has nothing to do with N-Dubz, The X Factor or her stop-start solo career. After a turbulent few years,Tulisa is preparing for the release of her new autobiography, the appropriately titled Judgement: Love, Trials and Tribulations. And she is captured in profile on the cover of her imminent book - billed as a 'brutally honest and redemptive' memoir that documents her rise to prominence and subsequent fall from grace after being targeted by the disgraced 'Fake Sheikh', Mazher Mahmood. The singer, 37, later admitted her life 'fell apart' following an elaborate sting that resulted in her being arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs, an accusation she vehemently denied. As the drama played out in court, Tulisa opted to keep a journal in which she detailed the toll her trial had taken on her personal life, and the devastating impact it had on her career. Released by Blink Publishing for Bonnier Books UK, Judgement will be available to purchase from August 14. 'Since I was a child, I've been obsessed by storytelling. I loved reading books and writing my own stories,' she explains in an accompanying press release. 'I have always longed to write an incredible book from start to finish – a creation that was all mine. 'This book means the world to me as I've worked on it for years and now I honestly feel the time is right to tell my story, warts and all, entirely in my own words. 'I am so excited to be working with Ciara [Lloyd, Blink Publishing Director] and the team at Bonnier to share this book with readers everywhere.' Publishing Director Lloyd added: 'When I read Tulisa's proposal, I knew instantly that I wanted to publish her. 'I remember the infamous 'Fake Sheikh' trial well and how unfairly Tulisa was treated, a story that highlighted the bias and misogyny in the press, and in our society. 'So, to give a voice to Tulisa and her story as well as showcase her phenomenal talent as a writer is a real privilege. 'This is the perfect redemption story for the original Female Boss, and I'm so proud to be publishing her at Blink.' Mazher Mahmood, also known as the Fake Sheik, was jailed for 15 months for perverting the course of justice after duping Tulisa into buying cocaine while he posed as a film producer In one notable extract from the book, Tulisa claims a police officer made obscene gestures towards her while she was on trial for an alleged drugs sting in 2014 at Southwark Crown Court. She writes: 'I felt like an animal in a cage, for everyone's entertainment.' A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Daily Mail: 'We are unaware of this allegation from 2016, which has not been reported to us. 'We would encourage the complainant to make a report so we can investigate.' The impact of the trial also left Tulisa with PTSD, with the singer noting that if she had to go through all the coverage of her trial she would 'have a nervous breakdown.' She told Cosmopolitan: 'There was, an actual, very serious [suicide] attempt. There was also this moment of real depression where I was driving in my car, hysterically crying, and there was so much trauma that I had an out of body experience. 'It was like my brain was going so nuts that I had to physically detach the two.' Following the trial, Tulisa spent more than a decade out of the public eye after it was ruled the infamous Fake Sheikh had trapped her in the drug sting. Mazher Mahmood, also known as the Fake Sheik, a former journalist for the Sun on Sunday was jailed for 15 months for perverting the course of justice by lying in court.
