travel

Joe Lycett to become new Travel Man

After exploring over 40 cities across nine series, Richard Ayoade (The Crystal Maze) will pass the baton to Joe Lycett as presenter of Travel Man: 48 hours in... next year.

The series sees Ayoade explore some of the world’s most popular holiday destinations for 48 hours, each journey with a different famous companion to join him on his trip.

BBC Arena commissions Werner Herzog tribute to Bruce Chatwin

Werner Herzog with Chatwin's rucksack (Credit: BBC)

The pair were friends, and worked together on Herzog’s film Cobra Verde, which was adapted from Chatwin’s book The Viceroy of Ouidah.

“We were kindred spirits - he as a writer, I as a filmmaker,” said Herzog of their friendship. “Bruce Chatwin was a writer like no other. He crafted mythical tales into voyages of the mind.”

When Chatwin was dying, he gave Herzog the rucksack he’d taken on his travels around the world.

Russell Howard heads to Asia for Comedy Central

(Credit: Comedy Central UK)

The duo’s warm and funny relationship is once again dissected for the third season of their travelling adventures.

Following the success of the pair’s USA Road Trip, the new 6-part season will see mother and son discover a world of Samurais in Japan, advanced technology in South Korea, and an island paradise in Thailand.

Their journey continues with a visit to a 5-star acting academy in Mumbai to learn what it takes to make it in Bollywood. The pair also attempt folkoric water puppetry in Vietnam and care for rescue elephants in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.

Top TV picks: 27th December

Morecambe & Wise in America 

Gold, 8.00pm

Jonathan Ross hosts new documentary Morecambe & Wise in America, which will focus on the comedy double act’s attempt to break America.

Iconic duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise’s working relationship is explored in this three-part series, which features over an hour’s worth of footage never seen before in the UK. Morecambe & Wise in America follows the pair on a series of trips they made to appear on one of the USA’s largest variety show, The Ed Sullivan Show.

Michael Palin travels to North Korea for Channel 5

Michael Palin in North Korea

Palin travelled over 1300 miles through the secretive country, at a historic moment for the region.

The presenter and his crew were in the country during the momentous meeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and South Korean president Moon Jae-In, and captured the reactions of ordinary citizens.

“The visit was an eye-opener for me, and I'm sure it will be the same for others,” said Palin, who returned from his trip earlier this month. “In all my travels around the world I have never had the same sense of fascination and revelation as on this journey to North Korea.”

UKTV and BBC partner for innovative new adventure travel series

(Credit: BBC)

From hiking through unmapped jungle in South America, to the first descent of a white-water river in the Himalayas and discovering  the deserts of the Middle East;  Steve Backshall, with a team of world-class specialists and a film crew will chart them all, as they venture into new territories.

The crew, which includes divers, kayakers and mountaineers will record their trials and tribulations, and this footage will be at the heart of the story.

First look at new E4 backpacking drama Gap Year

From actor/writer Tom Blasden (Plebs, Fresh Meat), Gap Year tells the story of Sean (Ade Oyefeso) who passes up a sure-fire ‘lads holiday’ to head to smoggy Beijing with his friend Dylan. However Dylan, a hopeless romantic and precocious philosophy student, is secretly scheming, and the Sean find himself travelling the entire continent with his friend.

Levison Wood: "I’m done with walking"

Levison Wood walks through Central America (Credit: Simon Buxton / Channel 4)

In 2014 he walked the length of the Nile, and the following year trekked from Afghanistan to Bhutan across the Himalayas. He’s just returned from his latest expedition, a four month walk through Central America from Mexico to Colombia, passing through the notorious Darien Gap.

“I’m pretty lucky because I’ve kind of got everything that I could ever have dreamed of in terms of my career,” says Wood during a break between recording voice overs for his new series Walking the Americas.