Amanda Owen suffers ratings blow as new show attracts less than HALF the viewers of Clive’s series

Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen has been dealt a ratings blow by estranged husband Clive.

Newly-released audience figures reveal that the 48-year-old’s new Channel 4 show attracted less than half the viewers of Clive and son Reuben’s Yorkshire Farm spin-off.

An industry insider described the figures for the first episode of Amanda Owen’s Farming Lives as ‘solid.’

Viewing peaked at 610,000, with 329,000 watching the show live on More 4 when it aired on January 25th.

The show topped the ratings for More 4, almost doubling the audience share of the channel’s next most popular airing that week, Grand Designs.

However it was still a long way behind the 1.7m who tuned in to watch Beyond The Yorkshire Farm, starring 68-year-old Clive and Reuben ,19, in December.

A source in the Dales farming community said: “This is not what was expected. Amanda is the TV star and Clive is a farmer who somehow ended up on the telly.

“I don’t think anyone expected his and Reuben’s show to do better of the two, least of all Amanda.”

Amanda’s opening show in the series followed the fortunes of two Shetland sisters who overcame adversity to establish their own coastal farm.

Clive and Reuben’s was based around the teen’s new contract digging business and was a surprise ratings hit for Channel 5.

The Owens are both still working at Ravenseat in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, but are no longer living as a couple.

Amanda and Clive – who were married in 2000 and share nine children – met in 1996 when he was already divorced with two children, after she arrived at his farm as a 21-year-old trainee shepherdess.

After first appearing on ITV’s The Dales, the couple shot to fame in 2018 when they bagged their own series Our Yorkshire Farm on Channel 5.

Father and son duo Clive and Reuben Owens now have their own Channel 5 series Beyond the Yorkshire Farm

Amanda and Clive Owen shot to fame in 2018 when their series Our Yorkshire Farm debuted on Channel 5

The show – which ran for four seasons – followed the family-of-11 in their day-to-day running of the remote farm. 

In June last year, the couple left fans of the hit series stunned when they announced their split. 

Amanda moved out into a holiday let close by, while Clive stayed at the farm he’s occupied as a tenant for more than 30 years.

The couple have insisted that they are happy with the current state of affairs.

Earlier this year, Amanda told Mailonline she is happily single and no-one else was involved in the end of their marriage.

She said: ‘I’m getting on with my life as an independent woman, looking after the kids and my sheep.

‘There was nobody involved in the break up with Clive and I don’t understand why this is being suggested.

‘I’m not Meghan, I’m not a wallflower and I’m not over-sensitive, but a lot of things said about me are being taken out of context. I’m living a fantastic life doing what I really love.’

Referring to family life since the break-up with Clive, she said: ‘We are co-parenting and the whole family is very happy.

‘I was just with Clive this morning at the farmhouse where he lives and he then went off to sell a bull. There’s absolutely no problem between us. It’s been a very amicable split and we continue to work together. Everybody in the family is happy with the way things have turned out.’

Clive added: “It’s all good, the whole family is very happy. Life is wonderful and there is no problem between us. It couldn’t be better.”