Johnny Vaughan explains why Porridge is still the greatest sitcom after his own prison experience

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

What’s the view from your sofa?

There’s a mantelpiece and a lot of dinosaurs. My son Milton is obsessed with them. They’re meant to be up in his room, but every time I put them there, he brings them all downstairs to create “dino-ramas” on the floor. My partner [Vanessa Howard] and I thought he’d grow out of these a few years ago. He hasn’t, and he’s now five.

Who controls the remote at home?

Well, because we’re always losing them, I discovered you can buy them easily on Amazon, so there’s loads of remotes just lying around, which means we get into tit-for-tat remote wars. It just goes on and on, but generally, if I’ve cooked dinner, I do.

What have you enjoyed watching recently?

We’ve just finished The Bear. Sometimes the reason you’re hating something is because it’s emoting precisely what the makers intended, so if The Bear makes you angry and frustrated, it’s because it’s meant to produce that reaction.

What does it take to be a good presenter?

Someone who realises it’s a craft, and is always chasing that perfect show. You’ve got to keep learning. I came to radio from telly and I was a real snob about it: “Television is bigger profile and now I’m coming to radio – so, boy, am I doing radio a favour!” Then you realise that radio is something you get better at. For me, TV you can either do or you can’t. I did The Big Breakfast, the most lively live show, so anything else in telly was never as enjoyable.

Who’s the broadcaster you most admire?

Anthony Bourdain. You could see his brilliance and his weaknesses. I interviewed him once and his passion for it was fantastic. He was travelling the world, eating great food, meeting great people – something we’d all love to do.

Thanks to social media, now everyone can be a broadcaster, but are they real broadcasters?

It’s short-form content, and there’s a bit of wannabe-ness about it. They’re like the local TV news we used to have – it would cut to a reporter dressed in karate gear in a village hall full of children with Mohicans doing a sponsored pogo. I see it a bit like that – they’re one-joke wonders, a lot of them.

What’s your most replayed song?

I’ve always hammered Oasis, but recently I really went for it with [Irish band] Fontaines DC’s Favourite. It’s just so good. I hammered it at home and I hammered it on the show.

With Gavin Woods, you host Bloomin’ Legends, a podcast about historical figures. Which do you most admire?

Admiral Nelson, the most influential man in British history. He single-handedly made Britannia rule the waves. In fact, I just dragged my family on a pilgrimage to Trafalgar Point, to look west and see where the battle was fought. But the trouble with the site of a naval battle is it’s just the sea.

As someone who once resided at Her Majesty’s Pleasure [Vaughan tried to sell cocaine to undercover police when he was 21 and served 25 months of his four-year sentence], do you think the UK has enough measures to help people get back into work after jail?

Are you Barrowclough or Mackay? That’s why Porridge is still the greatest sitcom. Are you just locking people up and sending them back into society worse, or investing in people who’ve gone astray? You’ve got to send people back out into the world with more than they came in with. That’s in terms of qualifications, knowledge and a sense of responsibility, or else you’ve failed. So I would always say: education, education, education.

What would older Johnny tell his younger self?

Never sell any of the properties you bought, and just keep buying them! You know those t**ts who go: “See this? Bought it for 90 grand…” That’s what I’d be.

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