CUMBRIA'S own Red Shepherdess Hannah Jackson is set to feature in a new TV show about family-run businesses across the UK piecing their lives back together after an extraordinary year.

In the new series, described as 'heart-warming and inspirational', friends Emma Willis and AJ Odudu hit the road, travelling round the country, trying their hand at assorted businesses.

In episode 4, Emma and AJ work with Cumbrian shepherdess Hannah Jackson during the busiest week of her year. They take on one of the toughest jobs in farming to help Hannah make her first lamb sales of the year - and face the realities of where their food comes from along the way.

Emma said: "AJ and I have so much fun working on The Voice together that we have wanted to do something else with just the two of us for, what feels like, 10 years.

"We liked the idea of this show because so many people had their lives disrupted due to Covid, and this really highlighted the effects it has had on longterm, family-run businesses and the small start-up businesses who had strived over the past year."

AJ said she learned from Hannah that 'farming isn't just farming'.

"There is a lot of admin involved, which I didn’t realise," she said. "It’s also really hard! You have to be so strong to hold the sheep and shear them and I was so impressed by how entrepreneurial Hannah was.

"She completely blew away any stereotypes I had of a farmer and I loved how she was using social media to farm in a completely different way.

Emma added: "I learnt that it’s bloody hard work and women don’t stand much of a chance in it because it’s such a male-dominated industry. Hannah really struggled to get into it as there weren’t many people willing to give her a chance, not only because she’s a woman but because she was so young.

"But she persevered, found a couple of people that believed in her and now she’s 26 with a small farm of her own.

"She’s also put a digital spin on it because she shares the whole process with her Instagram followers, from the life of the animals right from when they’re born to selling her meat through the app. It’s great because it’s direct from her to the customer.

"She also taught us how to train a sheep dog, which I was quite good at!"

Emma & AJ Get to Work is set to air on UKTV's channel W. It starts Monday, November 22 at 8pm.