Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Telly time for jobless Tories? Some suggestions
With Meet the Rees-Moggs soon playing on Discovery+, STEPHEN ARNELL considers what kind of shows his fellow defenestrated MPs might best star in
Jacob Rees-Mogg in the studio at GB News during his new show Jacob Rees-Mogg's State of The Nation, February 27, 2023

“ANIMALS, children, an election and a film crew, what could possibly go wrong?” said Rees-Mogg. “This everyday story of Somerset folk is fun to film but may be a bit more Fawlty Towers than Downton Abbey.”

The news that former MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is to star in a fly-on-the-wall series following his eight-strong family (plus nanny Veronica Cook) initially struck me with a feeling akin to dread.

Conceivably I would watch the Rees-Moggs feature in a brutal Squid Game-style challenge, or see the brood washed up on a desert island where Nanny Cook finally takes charge (and revenge?) in an Admirable Crichton fashion after enduring the appalling clan for 60 of her 81 years. But that’s about it.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Crowds watch Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Picture date: Saturday June 28, 2025
Media / 8 July 2025
8 July 2025

The fallout from the Kneecap and Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury raises questions about the suitability of senior BBC management for their roles, says STEPHEN ARNELL

The Channel 4 logo outside offices in Horseferry Road, London
Features / 25 June 2025
25 June 2025

With the news of massive pay rises for senior management while content spend dives STEPHEN ARNELL wonders when will someone call out the greed of these ‘public service’ executives

President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington
United States / 31 May 2025
31 May 2025

As Trump targets universities while Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem redefines habeas corpus as presidential deportation power, STEPHEN ARNELL traces how John Scopes’s optimism about academic freedom’s triumph now seems tragically premature

Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, to Downing Street, London, ahead of a bilateral meeting, May 21, 2025
Features / 27 May 2025
27 May 2025

STEPHEN ARNELL examines whether Starmer is a canny strategist playing a longer game or heading for MacDonald’s Great Betrayal, tracing parallels between today’s rightward drift and the 1931 crisis

Similar stories
(L-R) Day of the Fight; Twiggy; Marching Powder
Cinema / 6 March 2025
6 March 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE Reviews of Twiggy, Mickey 17, Day of the Fight, and Marching Powder
(L) Conclave; (R) Your Monster
Cinema / 28 November 2024
28 November 2024
Papal tiffs, Reality TV torture, volleyball feminism and a monster in the closet; The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Conclave, The Contestant, Power Alley and Your Monster
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meeting Chancellor of the Ex
Editorial: / 29 October 2024
29 October 2024