Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher and his family have had a lot to deal with in the past year including a devastating loss.
Joe Crutchley Screen Time Reporter
08:00, 29 Mar 2026
Inside Kelvin Fletcher’s heartbreaking 12 months from shock deaths to ‘homeless’ fears(Image: ITV)
Kelvin Fletcher is a firm favourite on TV – but the telly star and his family have had a dramatic year.
The actor shot to fame when he joined Emmerdale as Andy Sugden in 1996. After leaving in 2016, he swapped the city for the countryside for a new farming life when he and wife Liz took on a 120-acre farm in the Peak District.
The pair – who are parents to four children – allowed cameras to follow their farming journey on their popular ITV show Fletcher’s Family Farm.
However, the past 12 months have no doubt been a tough time for the family: from a sad death to a devastating fire. Here, we’re taking a look inside Kelvin’s rollercoaster year.
Kelvin and Liz’s farm fire
The fire rendered their home unsafe to live in(Image: ITV)
In 2025, the Fletcher family were forced to abandon their farm following a catastrophic fire. At the time, Kelvin and Liz were enjoying some downtime with their children away from their 120-acre farm in Wincle, just over the Staffordshire border in Cheshire, when they received a distressing call from a neighbour about a fire.
The blaze rendered their home unsafe to live in, leaving them temporarily homless and forced to find emergency accommodation. Talking about the harsh reality of dealing with the aftermath of the fire Liz revealed: “These things, dealing with the fire, it takes so much longer than you can ever imagine.
“It’s a full-time job trying to go through the whole process, the surveys, everything that needs to be done. As well as then, we haven’t even started the point of clearing the house out and actually making a start on that building work.
“So this just feels, although it’s temporary, feels like it will help us make those steps a bit more efficiently, a bit more not having to be in two places at the same time.”
Meanwhile on their show, Liz and Kelvin looked emotional as they surveyed their damaged possessions, deciding what to keep and what to throw away. Kelvin said he felt “so detached” and “lost his connection” to the house since it was destroyed. However, more than a year after the fire broke out, the family returned to their beloved farm.
Heartbreaking farm death
The Fletcher family have suffered more than one loss(Image: ITV)
In an episode of Fletchers’ Family Farm from this month, Kelvin made the heartbreaking discovering his beloved cow Ruby had died unexpectedly.
He shared: “As the sun fades on our evening rounds, Josh and I are confronted by a sign no farmer ever wants to see. Our much-loved cow Cherry is lying motionless on her side.”
The realisation soon hits that Kelvin’s cow has sadly died, leaving her six-month-old calf, Ezra, without his mum. An emotional Kelvin said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking. I’ve no idea at all about what’s caused it. I’m just surprised how shocking it is, to be honest, I’m just having a bit of shock.”
The former soap star explained he had already called the vet, Hugo, so Cherry could be collected and they could find out how she died by having a post-mortem.
This isn’t the first heartbreaking goodbye the Fletchers have faced on the 2025 series, after also bidding farewell to their cow, Sonic. Sharing the emotional moment, Kelvin explained, “The day has arrived to say goodbye to our first ever calf, Sonic, who’s heading off on his final journey.
“This morning, we’re taking Sonic to, well, there’s no best way to say, I guess, to slaughter really. Sonic is going. So, yeah, bittersweet, really. It’s a bit of a weird one.”
Liz’s ‘homeless’ fears
Their farm was hit by a fierce storm(Image: ITV)
In a recent episode of Fletchers’ Family Farm, Kelvin and Liz were dealt yet another blow when a fierce storm struck. Liz appeared visibly upset as she spoke candidly about the possibility of being made homeless once more.
As the pair surveyed the destruction, Liz said, in shock: “Gosh, it’s hard to believe that the wind can blow that down, isn’t it?” Reflecting on a tree that had toppled dangerously close to their family home, Kelvin said: “Well, we’re very lucky, because another 10 feet would have been in the lodge.
“We would have been homeless again,” Liz replied. “We’ve had every element now. We’ve had fire, floods, and now the wind has just missed the lodge, which must mean that our luck is finally on the way up. I don’t know what has gone on this year, but we’ve definitely been put to the test.”
Fletcher’s Family Farm is available to watch on ITVX.
