Reuben Owen faces painful goodbye to co-star as exit teased in Life in the Dales finale: 'Open road awaits!'
Tommy revealed he would be leaving Reuben soon
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Our Yorkshire Farm star Reuben Owen faced the emotional prospect of losing friend and colleague Tommy McWhirter from his business as he explored the option of leaving the company.
Since opening his own business, Owen and McWhirter have built up a collection of machinery and tractors for their contracting enterprise, as documented in Life in the Dales.
The pair also trained Owen's now-ex-girlfriend Sarah Dow to drive the machines to help contribute to the business.
However, in the sixth episode of the series, Owen feared his pal McWhirter would be leaving after passing his HGV exams, forcing him to contemplate moving forward without his righthand man.
As McWhirter took his theory exams, Owen confided in Dow and noted: "If Tommy passes his test we may never see him again.
"That might be him, the open road awaits."
The trio have been working together for a couple of years
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"Maybe," Dow replied before McWhirter arrived back at the work site to tell his pals how his HGV exams went.
After admitting he was feeling positive about the potential career switch and that it had always been his dream to be a trucker, Owen asked McWhirter outright: "Are we going to lose you any time soon then?"
McWhirter hesitantly replied: "No, I wouldn't have thought so. I haven't even booked my (practical) test yet so it definitely won't be soon."
Knowing that the time will come when McWhirter will eventually leave, Owen probed: "When you pass, will you do a couple of days with me, a couple of days with Neil, or...?"
"Yeah. I obviously want to drive a wagon but I'll still help you now and again," McWhirter reassured before Owen continued: "Grand job."
Dow chimed in: "If we have not got Tom around it's just going to be a bit more work for us, isn't it?"
Reuben was saddened to hear the news that Tommy could be leaving
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"We will probably just get the same done, to be honest," Owen joked which left McWhirter to laugh and remark back: "Yeah, it will.
"But we will see what happens when we get there."
While McWhirter said he had no plans of leaving straight away, Owen looked saddened by the fact he may have to carry on without his best friend by his side.
The news of McWhirter leaving comes after the 20-year-old revealed he had split up with Dow.
Owen recently said in an interview on ITV: "Me and Sarah were together, we're no longer together but we're still very good friends.
"She's kind of gone her own way and is pursuing her own career. She does the odd day for us when she's not busy, but no, we're not together. We get on very well and we're still good pals," he told Lorraine Kelly.
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Reuben and Sarah recently split up from their relationship
Owen first began his solo TV career after his parents Amanda Owen and Clive Owen ended their marriage which ultimately ended filming on Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm.
The teen had filmed a spin-off series with his dad but revealed why he decided to go solo on Life in the Dales.
"Dad worked with us when I first started setting up the company because I was very new to it and Dad has done all sorts through his life with machinery," Owen said.
"He showed us the basics of how to keep everything going. When he saw that we’d got it and he didn’t really need to be there, he went back to focusing on his sheep and cows like he loves doing."