Countryfile at 30

30 years ago on this date the first edition of a programme that started off as a lunch time fare but world over time would a prime time hit. Countryfile replaced a programme called Farming which as the title suggests focused solely on that subject. Dealing with a much wider brief than it's predecessors such as animal and plant preservation, countryside leisure activates and continuing it's predecessor's agenda farming. Launched at a time when concerns about the environment were becoming more mainstream and 21 years later it was given a prime early evening Sunday slot. Countryfile hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when one time reporter Miriam O'Rielly sued the BBC after being axed from the programme on what she claimed was her age, she would win her case. Nearly a year later after Countryfile started John Craven stared presenting the show. best known for his work on kids TV shows Saturday Swapshow and Newsround Craven has been the one constant in the programmes rise in profile. We will probably never see something like what Countryfile has achieved going from niche afternoon viewing to mass appeal viewing.