Surprise TV sensation begins foray into live events with four-day show in grounds of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire
Like a more sedate Glastonbury with added hedge-laying and ferrets, Countryfile Live touched down in Oxfordshire on Thursday, bringing the immensely popular television programme directly to its audience for the first time in its 28-year history.
Once a modest Sunday lunchtime magazine show, launched when Britons had four channels to choose from, it has grown to become a television sensation, broadcasting on BBC1 52 weeks a year and with an audience that earlier this year peaked at 9.7 million. That put it above X Factor, a fact even Simon Cowell conceded was “staggering” for a programme that in recent months has included features on Cumbrian female wrestling and the beetle life inside cow pats.
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Source: Guardian Environment