THERE'S something about sending a celebrity to a foreign country to make a documentary about it which makes me reach for the remote very quickly.
When Michael Palin went from Pole to Pole, I hoped that he'd find the airport in Antartica was iced over. For good. And as for Craig Doyle and that dreadful Holiday programme where he'd pretend to get to grips with a country from the safety of his swimming pool, well, enough said.
So top marks to the BBC for coming up with India with Sanjeev Bhaskar (9pm, BBC 2)
It is the first of a new series in which Sanjeev Bhaskar travels across India, using his trademark humour and insight to get under the skin of an endlessly fascinating country. Or so the blurb says, anyway.
India is being hyped as a new economic superpower, and Sanjeev's journey begins in the nation's glamorous financial capital, Mumbai. It's home to India's wealthiest citizens - and also to the largest slum in Asia.
Sanjeev encounters millionaires and street traders, makes a cameo appearance in a top soap opera and does a stint as a judge in a bizarre beauty contest to find Mrs India.
Travelling south, Sanjeev visits India's Silicon Valley - the global IT hub of Bangalore, where he meets some of the rising young middle class who are transforming the face of Indian society. Finally, Sanjeev chills out in the stunningly beautiful island backwaters of Kerala - playground of India's rich and famous.
It's part of the BBC's Pakistan and India series and touch wood, this is the start of good run of programmes.
Also tonight:
Help! I'm a Teen Mum! (ITV1, 10pm): A programme in which the researchers obviously think they're helping prove teen mums aren't bad people, by hooking them up with experts to help them out. But in the process, actually just exploiting them.
Monsoon Railway (BBC 2, 11.20pm): Another part of the India series, it is a documentary which finds out why, despite monsoons, mass poverty and real heat, the Indian railway network is more reliable than the UK one it is modelled on. Something to chew on the next time the 7.58am from Huyton to Lime Street is late, overcrowded and decidedly smelly
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »