The six best travel shows to watch this month
From luxury train journeys to animal encounters, these travel shows will reignite your wanderlust.
Travels with my Father
British comedian Jack Whitehall is back with Michael, his elderly duffer Daddy, in the fifth and final series of the successful Travels with My Father franchise. The combative couple are on a driving trip around deep-green counties, into Wales and up to Scotland.
The somewhat random itinerary, designed by Mummy Hilary, includes a “stable stay” with horses, walking with llamas, searching for the Loch Ness monster while singing sea shanties, and other such jolly escapades. Circle back to kick off with the first series in Thailand, where the dynamic is quickly established between carefree son and travel-phobic father. “What’s street food?” asks Michael as he orders a lamb chop (“preferably Welsh lamb”) in Bangkok. Hilarious and heartwarming. All seasons: Netflix.
Around the World by Train
From Japanese bullet trains to toy-like carriages puffing up steep inclines, there’s something for every rail aficionado in this rollicking six-part series hosted by British actor and presenter Tony Robinson, who promises a range of the “fastest, steepest and most luxurious” journeys.
The Australian episode in series one includes XPTs on the northeast coast, The Westlander into “the stonkingly huge countryside”, and The Spirit of Queensland up to Cairns. The snapshot approach can be unsatisfyingly brief, but there’s plenty of character and colour, including detours into local festivals, country shows, rural life and activities such as snorkelling off Fitzroy Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Trainspotter heaven. Series 1: Binge. Series 2 (Tony Robinson’s World by Rail): SBS On Demand.
The Trip to Greece
The original TV shows and subsequent movies of Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan’s The Trip collection are all guaranteed to lift the spirits and get viewers laughing. Love ‘em or hate ‘em (and there’s much to cringe at), these two self-regarding midlife actors pull off remarkable roles as their fictionalised travelling selves.
Happily married Brydon is a court jester character full of jokes and impersonations; hilariously vain Coogan (“I look better as I get older”) is forever seeking romantic conquests and affirmation of his masculinity and star status. The travelogue-style backdrops, especially in the most recent, The Trip to Greece (2020), are utterly enticing and the two stay in gorgeous hotels and dine at remarkable restaurants. Cleverly packaged travel porn. Stan.
Walking with Elephants
In this engaging and superbly filmed three-part series, British adventurer Levison Wood tracks his way for more than 320 tough kilometres across the Kalahari salt pans and into the Okavango Delta of Botswana with a support crew, guide Kane, who’s a San bushman with extraordinary wisdom, and a herd of migrating elephants. On the month-long camping odyssey, there are close encounters with tuskers, moments of sheer joy observing mothers and their tiny jumbos, and clear messages to take away about the importance of wildlife conservation and environmental management of habitat encroachment. Prepare that khaki kit for 2022 African safaris with a conscience. Mesmeric and uplifting. Foxtel Animal Planet.
Searching for Italy
Actor and cookbook author Stanley Tucci is of Italian heritage and he proves the most amiable (and ravenous) guide in this mouth-watering six-part series that explores regional food culture from Sicily and the Amalfi Coast up to Milan and Tuscany. He meets generous providores, entertaining guides, passionate tomato growers and olive farmers; visits bountiful markets; and gives insights into the occasional oddities of local cuisine, Italian family life and sense of community. Glimpses of myriad cafes, bars and restaurants provide inspiration for future trips. It’s a perfect combination of culinary culture and travel info, wrapped up with a sense of keen curiosity and great fun. A second series is mooted for 2022. Bravo. CNN/YouTube.
Back to Nature
Actor Aaron Pedersen and writer Holly Ringland are joined by erudite locals as they cover eight of Australia’s most beautiful and storied landscapes, from the high country of the Snowy Mountains to the mystical realms of Victoria’s Hanging Rock. The pace is unhurried and, as the series name heralds, nature, and its fragility and beauty, is the unifying theme, which is well articulated by Ringland in her gentle observations.
Pedersen’s Indigenous heritage and deep knowledge of country add depth and sensitivity to the storytelling and the camera work is first class. The impetus to get up and go, treading gently and with renewed respect for the land, is strong and stirring. Educational and inspirational. ABC/iview.