Michael Palin: Full Circle

Invite the former Python humorist 'round for an entertaining journey - by train, boat, plane, helicopter and occasionally very sore feet - around the Pacific Rim. meet Eskimos on the island of Diomede, visit Japan's legendary Kodo Drummers, a Zen Buddhist temple and bustling downtown Tokyo. Explore Vietman, the perilous Sula Seas, Australia, South America, Mexico and Alaska. "Palin's character holds it all together...the wry observations, self-deprecation and his virtually indestructible good humor carry [the viewer] through." - Sunday Times (UK)

Alaska and Russia - The first programme opens in the middle of the Bering Strait, on the tiny Eskimo island of Diomede which lies equidistant between Russia and the USA. Michaels first continental landfall is the goldrush town of Nome, whose Golden Sands still provide a living for youngsters and old timers who pan and dredge the beaches in the long Arctic summers. At Kodiak, Michael has a date with the US Coast Guard whose C130 supply aircraft will take him to the most distant island in the Aleutian chain, only a short hop from Russia.

Japan and Korea - After crossing from Vladivostok to Niigata in programme two, Michael visits the famous Kodd Drummers in Sado, a remote island off Japan. Accommodation is in a ryokan, a traditional inn, where Michael is thrown in at the deep end with a 10-course kimono trying to contain his nerves and his giggling.

China - China is home to a quarter of the worlds population and, although its the biggest country on their journey, it is also the least understood. "But we have to try to understand it because, within 25 years, it will probably have the most powerful economy in the world". As he travels by ferry to Qingdao, he admits to feeling both apprehensive and fascinated.
Vietnam and the Philippines Michael - Palin arrives in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. To his delight, he finds a country filled with surprises and paradoxes, and one which is currently going through some massive changes.

Borneo and Java - Zamboanga is one of the most colourful cities in the Pacific Rim, which lies on a sensitive frontier between the Christian Philippines and a Muslim South. The Sula Seas, between Zambo and Borneo, have long been a haunt of pirates and, latterly, guerrillas fighting for a separate Muslim state in the southern Philippines. Michael crosses the perilous stretch of water in a leaky old Japanese ferry, now owned by a charming Filipino family. Fortunately, the journey passes without incident, albeit in considerable discomfort.

Australia and New Zealand - In the Northern Territory of Australia, Michael goes on a mercy mission with the outback flying vet; his first landing is on Bluey Pughs airstrip at Coolibah. Bluey has a crocodile farm and his chief breeding male has an abscess on the tip of his jaws.

Chile and Bolivia - Michael and the team have arrived at Cape Horn.They disembark, courtesy of the Chilean Navy, which is responsible for the lighthouse on the Cape. Sailing through the storm-racked Beagle Channel, Michael travels on by boat through the glorious coastal scenery of Southern Chile, where there are no roads, eventually reaching the capital, Santiago.

Bolivia and Peru - Lake Titicaca, in South America, provides the stunning opening scene in this episode. Michael visits a reed-boat builder on the edge of the Lake and drops in on an Englishwoman who is single-handedly restoring a British-built steamer which was carried up to the world's highest navigable lake more than 100 years ago, piece by piece on the backs of donkeys.

Peru and Colombia - Michael and the team are now nearing the end of their 50,000-mile journey. Still in South America, they continue their Urubamba trip, travelling a route which few, except local traders and certainly no film team, have tried. The reward is an incredible jungle experience including encounters with Indian groups only recently contacted by the outside world. At Camisea, they discover the effect that oil prospecting is having on the environment and people of Amazonia.

Mexico, USA, Canada and Alaska - Michael arrives in Mexico City where he meets Super Barrio, a masked wrestler who champions the poor of the Third World's largest city. He travels out to the countryside and learns how to make tortillas with families who have even
less than their urban counterparts.

Written and Presented by Michael Palin
Directed by Clem Vallance, Roger Mills
Series Produced by Clem Vallance
Executive Produced by Anne James, Edward Mirzoeff

"He involves viewers, draws them in and makes them feel like his friends."  - Independent

"...a real treat, a skilful blend of the spontaneous and what the suspicious among us might believe was the artfully contrived ... What I had forgotten, since his last jaunt, is what good company Palin is. Where others can make the pursuit of travelogue humour look laboured, he makes it look effortless. He even got away with the old chestnut about Russian baths not having plugs."  - Times

"Palin is as agreeable and chatty a guide as you could possibly wish for ... He's adept, too, at drawing our attention to the small touches which offer sudden insights into a society."  - Daily Mail

"Palin is that rare creature in television, a commentator who is curious rather than ironically knowing; instructive, not prescriptive ... Palin searches for what is different and strange ... Long may he roam."  - Times

"it is Palin's character that holds it all together ... the wry observations, self-deprecation and his virtually indestructible good humour carry [the viewer] through."  - Sunday Times

"As so often, he sees things that most tourists could never see - unless they wanted to risk being murdered. Palin always has wonderful guides ... He must be gently opening the eyes and minds of millions."  - Guardian

"...seldom flustered, cheery, willing to undergo almost any privations..." Sunday Telegraph

"You know the score.Very, very familiar, but quite fun."  - Independent

"Palin manages to sustain and exploit two almost contradictory characteristics. On the one hand, he is the charming amateur for whom everything goes wrong ... However, when the occasion demands it, Palin becomes the total professional, borrowing a uniform and joining a Russian navy choir to sing a familiar folk song, using all the tricks of the trade learned in Monty Python's Flying Circus. He's a lumberjack, remember, and he's OK."  - Financial Times

"I've just gone Full Circle with Michael Palin and you will have to go some to match that."  - Mirror

"Michael Palin has lost none of his enthusiasm for travel and is still game for anything."  - Mirror