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Steph McGovern: "I absolutely hate any snobbery around art – who’s to say who is an artist and who isn’t?"
TV presenter, Steph McGovern, tells Radio Times how her working-class artist dad inspired her new show The Big Deal.
Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images
- Robin Parker
Published: Monday, 3 August 2026 at 5:00 pm
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This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
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What’s the view from your sofa?
Our telly’s far too big, but my partner talked me into getting it. On one side is part of the tiki bar area from the Steph’s Packed Lunch set and on the other is an old-school jukebox. It’s become a party room when we have had people round!
Who controls the remote?
Not me! I don’t have any control in my house, so it’s my partner and my six year-old daughter. Bluey’s huge, but we all love that. She knows I work in telly, so we’re not too strict about screen time.
What have you been watching recently on your too-big telly?
We mainly watch thriller box sets. Deadloch is a brilliant series filmed in Tasmania that’s really funny as well. I like the Netflix Harlan Coben series, too.
You’re presenting a new series called The Big Deal, where contestants are shown how to be art dealers. Are you trying to demystify the art world?
I absolutely hate any snobbery around art – who’s to say who is an artist and who isn’t? People have trolled me, saying I can’t be working-class if my dad was an artist. That’s ridiculous, and we challenge that in this show.
What was it like growing up in an arty household?
There were all these crazy sculptures around. When other kids came over, they were like, "What is this weird house?" There’s a lot of personal things tied up in my dad’s art about growing up in a Catholic Irish family. He’s done a lot of stuff around homeless people and their sense of abandonment. He defied the odds – his dad was a boxer, he was working-class, there wasn’t a pathway to being an artist, but he railed against all that. I now realise what a privilege it was to grow up around someone creative. I see it through the eyes of my daughter when she’s walking around her grandparents’ garden.
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What artistic leanings did your dad instil in you?
My art teacher really rated my dad, so I didn’t like being compared to him! But now when I watch my daughter at a local art class, I can see how mindful she finds it for half an hour before going off to do another 50 cartwheels. I’ve done a bit of painting with my dad and realised that I’m probably better than I thought I was, but that was from him guiding me.
Your dad introduced you to Have I Got News for You as a teenager and now you’re on the show as a panellist and presenter...
He’s still gobsmacked every time I do it! When he’s come to watch, I’ve heard him laugh – but not at me, only at Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. He used to really belly laugh at it. The only time I hear that sort of guttural laugh now is when he’s with my daughter.
You wear many hats – presenter, podcaster, business journalist and author. How do you move between those different roles?
They’re all about stories. I’m a nosy person who likes finding out what’s going on in people’s lives and telling others about it. Explaining fiscal rules is creative storytelling! Business has always interested me. I’m from a deprived area [Middlesbrough], so I like to know where money is going and how we distribute it better. Our audience for The Rest Is Money podcast with Robert Peston love having niche explanations for things like credit derivatives when we link them to big stories. And my novels are an escapism from the heavy stuff.
Finally, what’s in your own art collection?
A couple of David Hockney prints, which I saved up to buy. I love him for standing up to homophobia and for not changing his accent at a time when his voice would have been seen as common.
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Authors
Robin Parker
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