FIRLE, England — With birdsong in the air and a weak winter sun shining on the walled garden of an elegant farmhouse in southern England, things are going well for the film crew of “Countryfile,” a British television show that focuses on rural issues.

But as the host, John Craven, starts speaking, an airplane flies overhead and filming has to stop, a pattern repeated later when the proceedings would be disrupted by a delivery van, a chain saw, an electrical generator and gunshots.

If the countryside is, as Mr. Craven says, sometimes “a very noisy place,” it is also one that is close to the hearts of Britons, millions of whom watch the show religiously every Sunday evening, 52 weeks a year, on BBC.

“Countryfile” is regularly the most viewed factual broadcast in Britain, some achievement in a land where the battle for TV ratings last year produced a dating show in which participants appear naked.