Vinnie Jones explains why Clarkson's Farm comparisons are "upsetting" as he returns with In the Country

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

After a headline-grabbing football career, Vinnie Jones burst onto the big screen in Guy Ritchie’s 1998 debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Since then, he’s played soldiers, supervillains and enough gangsters to fill a crime family.

But Vinnie Jones in the Country, now in its third series, follows the actor’s true passion: preserving and exploring the countryside from his 2,000-acre estate in West Sussex. Just don’t compare it to Clarkson’s Farm…

When did your love of the outdoors begin?

I caught my first trout with my dad when I was seven. He was always a passionate country man – we had fishing rods and guns and bred working dogs. We were in Watford, and 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.

You’ve moved from football to acting to country living — is it in your nature to reinvent yourself?

I couldn’t just sit on my arse watching daytime TV. I get anxiety attacks if I don’t have plans for every day of the week. Doing all of this is where I’m in my element. For me, it’s 1988 every day: playing Liverpool in front of 100,000 people at Wembley. It’s like reliving my childhood, which was all countryside and football. Now it’s all countryside and acting.

You had the idea for Vinnie Jones in the Country before Covid — did the pandemic change your approach to the show?

I’d just lost my wife [Tanya died in 2019] going into the pandemic, so I couldn’t have been lonelier. I spent lockdown watching Netflix box sets. When we came out, the first thing I wanted was to dive into the countryside. It felt like being on the top board with the ladder taken away – I had no choice but to jump in. The show was the same: I dived straight in.

How would you describe the show?

It’s a show without an agenda, and it’s not a farm show – it’s an in-the-country show. Everyone’s tried to hang it on Clarkson’s Farm, which I find a bit upsetting. Jeremy’s done a fantastic job raising awareness for farmers, but ours is a different little show. After our second series, I think we were given a sponsored rake. Look at Clarkson’s Farm: tractors, combines – everything!

Did you set out to explore grief and male friendship this series, or did that emerge naturally?

It was never planned, but we’ve let the show take its own course, like a river: if it hits a dam, it goes another way. There’s a lot to be said for discussing mental health in the countryside, because it can be a lonely job.

Are people surprised by your interest in nature and mental health?

In the past, many newspapers were filled with stories about me being a lunatic, but a lot of that I brought on myself with the drinking. 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.

After 15 years in the US, did you miss the British countryside?

We moved there for my acting career and were up in Burbank, across the valley from Beverly Hills. I saw lots of wildlife – although mostly on golf courses! I’d also go up to Canada two or three times a year to fly fish and see the eagles. My favourite place on earth is just north of Vancouver. It’s a different world up there.

What’s next for your partnership with film-maker Guy Ritchie?

The new series of The Gentlemen, and I’m pretty heavy in this one. I may have another big movie with Guy this year, too. [Jones has just been confirmed as one of the leads in Ritchie’s new film Viva la Madness, based on the Layer Cake book series, alongside Jason Isaacs and Jonny Lee Miller]. There’s no time to stop swinging, but for me, and my mental health, that helps.

In the show, you call your manor house “the new Yellowstone”. What else have you been watching on TV lately?

We’ve watched MobLand and I’ll always watch Attenborough, he’s one of my heroes. I also like Grand Designs and The Chase. But other than football, we don’t watch a lot of telly. The countryside takes it out of you, so we’re often knackered and in bed before 9pm. We’ve got a little puppy too, so that also keeps us busy!

Will there be more In the Country?

We haven’t decided yet. I don’t want it to drag – three was our magic number. We’re building the lake house now and filming that, but do we want a construction series? When I played football, I wanted to finish at the top, not go back down through the leagues. We’ve had fun, but look at Clarkson’s Farm – there’s lots of politics there. I never want our little show to get like that. Ours is more of a hobby.

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