Not for the first time, TV hardman Vinnie Jones is upset – but this time it’s people comparing his show with Clarkson’s Farm that’s annoying him.
Hardman actor Vinnie Jones is not someone you want to upset – but that is exactly what those comparing his TV show with Clarkson’s Farm are doing. The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star said he finds comparisons between Vinne Jones In The Country and Jeremy Clarkson’s Prime Video series “upsetting”.
Speaking to the Radio Times, he praised former Top Gear host Clarkson, but said his own TV effort was “different”. He said: “Jeremy’s done a fantastic job raising awareness for farmers, but ours is a different little show. It’s a show without an agenda, and it’s not a farm show – it’s an in-the-country show.”
The former footballer went on to describe naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough as one of his “heroes” and said he wants the public to see the real him on Vinnie Jones In The Country, now in its third series on Discovery+. He said he hoped it would address his “lunatic” image in the press, boosted by his bad-boy antics on the football pitch and in the acting roles that followed.
“A lot of that I brought on myself with the drinking,” he told the magazine. “But I’m 12 years sober this April, and I wanted to show people what I actually do in my spare time. Yesterday, I sat for six hours just to see a kingfisher. I’m not a south London gangster, never have been.”
And Jones put his love of the outdoors down to the influence of his late father, adding: “He was always a passionate country man. I still remember finding my first lapwing nest in a field. If I were on Mastermind, my specialist subject would be British nature – not many people would beat me.”
Away from his TV show Jones is set to reunite with director Guy Ritchie – who cast him in the 1998 hit Lock, Stock… – for new action thriller, Viva la Madness, due later this year.
Jones found fame on the big and small screens after a successful football career, which saw him play for the likes of Wimbledon as a pivotal member of the Don’s legendary ‘Crazy Gang’, Leeds United, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers, between 1984 and 1999, when he retired from the game and pursued acting.
Following his major debut in Lock, Stock…, as Big Chris, Jones also starred in the follow-up, Snatch, as well as in the likes of Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish alongside John Travolta, and Mean Machine, the 2001 remake of Burt Reynolds’ The Longest Yard.
