Inside Kelvin Fletcher’s major career change after ‘stuff of nightmares’
Kelvin Fletcher's acting career kicked off in 1994 when he starred in a children's TV show.
He may be mostly known for his role as Andy Sugden in Emmerdale, but Kelvin Fletcher’s career kicked off when he was a young boy.
Although he left back in 2016, he’s maintained his presence on screens in his TV show with wife Liz and their children on Fletcher’s Family Farm.
The ITV star, who recently left fans stunned after sharing a snap with his lookalike brother, is celebrating a milestone this weekend as he turns 42.
With Kelvin and Liz appearing on James Martin’s Saturday Morning this weekend, we’re taking a look at the actor’s career and major life change.
In 1994, Kelvin took on the role of Darren for 10 episodes in the children’s drama Three Seven Eleven, which was shown on CITV.
However, his breakout role was at the age of 12 when he joined the long-running ITV soap as tearaway teen Andy Hopwood, before changing his last name to Sugden after being adopted by the family.
Kelvin has been in the spotlight since he was a child(Image: TV Grab)
Kelvin decided to bow out of Emmerdale in 2016 after a lengthy 20-year stint.
At the time, he explained he had an “appetite to try something else” and decided to delve more into one of his hobbies, motor racing.
He got into the sport in 2012, after visiting the Autosport International show with his dad and began taking part in races shortly after.
In 2014, he competed in the Porsche Supercup support race at the British Grand Prix, before his professional debut two years later.
In 2019, he took part in the British GT Championship with Beechdean AMR, driving alongside Martin Plowman, and won the Pro-Am title. This was the same year he took part in the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing.
Kelvin was called in to compete in the beloved dance competition after celebrity Jamie Laing had to withdraw. Despite being a late addition to the show, Kelvin went on to raise the Glitterball with Oti Mabuse.
Kelvin won the BBC show with Oti Mabuse(Image: BBC/Guy Levy)
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Speaking about his win on Breakfast in the past, he confessed: “I don’t think I actually heard our names being read out. I saw Oti almost collapse (and thought) ‘Oh, we must have won’.
“You don’t really expect that. It’s just the complete unknown. When your name is read out, it’s absolute disbelief.”
However, Kelvin’s life took a complete U-turn in 2021 when he bought a 120-acre farm in the Peak District with his family, kick-starting their farming venture, which has been documented on Fletcher’s Family Farm.
The pair suffered a devastating blow after their farm caught fire(Image: ITV)
The family suffered an awful ordeal in 2024 when a fire set their property ablaze while they were away on holiday. Speaking about the incident, the ITV star said: “It was the stuff of nightmares.
“Our neighbour called us. She was in a panic, and the fire was roaring. But their hands were tied. The fire brigade was called. It was surreal. We were in another country, and there was nothing we could do.”
Since then, they’ve documented their process on getting back to living at the farm in series three of their show.
In the series finale of their show, the pair were preparing for an arrival as they told viewers: “As far as big days go, this one’s huge. We’re taking delivery of our new lodge, the final step in getting us back living on the farm after a year of renting following a fire in the farmhouse.”
Fletcher’s Family Farm is available to watch on ITVX
