Farming programme Clarkson’s Farm has been “the biggest thing to happen for the country for thirty years”, actor Vinnie Jones has said.

The former footballer, 59, stars in his own agricultural series, Vinnie Jones In The Country, a Discovery Plus docu-soap in which he takes on 2,000 acres of a West Sussex farm.

The programme follows in the footsteps of the Prime Video series about Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire, run by former Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson and his team.

A man stands in front of a billboard advertising Clarkson's Farm
Jeremy Clarkson at the Amazon Prime Video launch event for Clarkson’s Farm (Ian West/PA)

Speaking to The Telegraph, Jones said: “Clarkson’s Farm has been the biggest thing to happen for the country for thirty years.

“I’m not sure some of these programmes like Springwatch and Countryfile tell a strong enough story for the countryside.

“Chris Packham goes too much the other way,” he said.

Jones, a former Premier League football player, also commented on England’s defeat by Spain in the Euro 204 final, after which Gareth Southgate resigned as manager.

“We needed a different leader with that team and we might have won it,” he said.

“He has been brilliant over the years but I’ve always said he’s an FA ‘yes man’ more than a manager.

“He spent more time worrying about the image of England rather than winning something.

A man in a cap standing under an umbrella
Vinnie Jones stars in Vinnie Jones In The Country (Anna Gowthorpe/PA)

“I’d have won something by now. I think Terry Venables would have won something by now. Harry Redknapp would have won something by now.”

Jones has appeared in a number of Guy Ritchie films, as well as his new Netflix series The Gentlemen, starring Theo James and Kaya Scodelario.

He told The Telegraph: “It was fantastic to be part of Lock, Stock (And Two Smoking Barrels) and Snatch.

“To go on a film set and generate enough success that Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro wanted to be in the next one – that was mind boggling.

“Then, forwarding 34 years, it’s all happened again with The Gentlemen.

“I’m kind of living two lives here. It’s surreal, very strange. But the farm always brings you back down to earth.”