SIR MICHAEL PALIN is a Monty Python comic legend, but he is perhaps just as well known for his hugely popular travelogues. The first of these — Around the World in 80 Days — was shown by the BBC in 1989, followed by Full Circle, in 1997.
He is now 82, and has written, produced, and presented eight travel documentaries: a contribution that earned him a Gold Medal for promoting geographical literacy from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. This is an impressive achievement for the comedian who once portrayed Pontius Pilate in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, who had a “vewwy good fwiend fwom Wome” with a name that I won’t mention in this respectable publication.
Michael Palin in Venezuela (Channel 5, Tuesday) is his latest adventure, a two-part series exploring this country of huge contrasts, one of vast beauty, enormous poverty, and massive political and economic instability. As Sir Michael calls it, Venezuela is a “dystopian paradise”.
He begins by exploring Caracas, a place with an undercurrent of sinister threat, where speaking out against the government is actively criminalised, and where state propaganda is ubiquitously deployed. Here, slums sit side by side with a surprisingly modern city, which is still trying to recover from eye-watering hyperinflation in 2018 and rapid depopulation. Juxtaposed against the menacing reality of the capital city is the stunning sight of the Canaima Lagoon Falls, a place of particular significance to the indigenous Pemón people.
There is clearly much to admire about Venezuela, a country in which beauty and destruction coexist jarringly. It is also important to note that, under the dictatorship of President Maduro, government responses to protests have been swiftly and brutally dealt with (News, 16 August 2024) — something that throws our own recent debates about free speech into sober relief.
Despite being a Strictly Come Dancing fan from the very start, I couldn’t, after one scandal too many, bring myself to watch last year. I gamely tuned in on Saturday night for the launch show (BBC 1), however, encouraged by my teenage daughter, who is keen to see how the YouTuber George Clarke fares.
I confess that he wasn’t among the seven celebrities whom I’d actually heard of this year; seven out of 15 is probably a little lower than usual, but I am still encouraged by this year’s intake. There is the standard mix of actors, sportspeople, journalists, and assorted performers, the same four judges, and a couple of new pro dancers to keep things fresh.
This year, perhaps more than ever, Strictly needs to prove that it is unproblematic and free of further unsavoury news stories. At a time when it is hard to entice Generation Z to watch anything, Strictly is still privileged to be a place for escapist multi-generational family television. Let’s keep it that way.
