Pole to Pole

After the success of Around the World in 80 Days, it was inevitable that Michael Palin would set off again. For this one, he is traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole along 30 degrees longitude. His group would travel down Russia just ahead of the coup which happens when they're in Turkey. They follow the Nile into the interior of Africa and make for the recently post-Apartheid South Africa. The last episode has them forced to jump across the ocean to South America before flying to Antarctica.

This one could never compare to 80 Days. Everybody has only one first time. In addition, this isn't based on a popular story and it doesn't have a ticking timer. The time element in 80 Days gave the show real tension. The fact is that the missed connection to Antarctica holds no relevance. It doesn't matter whether he finishes the trip in 80 days or 100 days or 1000 days. Nevertheless, it still has Michael Palin and he's still doing things by the seat of his pants. It has his humor and humanity. He is still the best. As for the trip, the chaos of the African interiors is very compelling. Sudan is the best episode for a reason. One can sense the dangers and its accompanying excitement. Riding on top of the train comes closest to the feeling of riding the Dhow in 80 Days. This may be inferior to 80 Days but it is still better than most travel shows.

As someone who has backpacked around the world a bit I take my hat off to MP and team for doing this trip of a lifetime but its a No thank you very much from me.. I know its 30 years ago and lots have changed in Africa but seeing poverty myself around the world many times this is on a different scale.. Its disgusting and horrendous. There's no way I could stomach it. Not for my pity but for their sake.. I wish I could help these people.. Well done Michael. 💚

I came to this right after watching Palin's "Himalaya" and thinking that his earlier work could not possibly be as magnificent. I was dead wrong.

Pole to Pole is not just entertaining or informative or impressive. It is important and relevant and borderline awe-inspiring. Palin is the perfect prism through which to view a disintegrating Soviet Union or the most barren and inhospitable parts of Africa: the man manages to never be patronizing or negative or simplistic; even though, am sure, not everything is impromptu and unstaged, even though there are the "this is gonna make a great TV moment" scenes, his timing and comic genius and general sense of the surreal, combined with enthusiasm and warmth and basic humanity, canvas out a lot of what is great and diverse and sad and decent about our world. This is one of the greatest travelogues of all time.

Special mention has to be made of Palin's utter unpretentiousness and honesty. And fearlessness. He is bloody fearless in the sense that he chooses not to edit out scenes where he is butt naked, visibly drunk, awkward, or overwhelmed.

This is grand stuff, TV at its very best.

While it's obvious that not every leg of Palin's journey is equally interesting, he and his team manage to make every stage a nice watch; we meet everyday people as well as particular ones, we see well-known landscapes as well as completely unknown ones, and I'd bet there's at least one new or interesting item for you in every episode, usually more than one. It's no travel-guide, but it's also not "adventure" except maybe in Africa - more of an experience. I'd recommend watching it only one episode per evening, so the experience can linger - first in chronological order, and maybe later re-visit some episode you liked particularly well.

This is one of those multi-part shows that I wish A&E would rerun every month; it's a delight from start to finish.

Michael Palin travels from the North Pole to the South Pole by the most direct routes, runs into the most interesting people, places and situations, and lets nothing get in his way. The best thing about the series is Palin, who seems to always be on the brink of some hilarity. He never really goes over the edge, but he always seems to be about to. He interviews a Turkish masseur, who seems to have learnt his trade by watching World Wrestling Federation videos, and gets a massage that looks like it breaks a few bones; he rides a rattletrap train in Africa, where the less-than-appetizing entree is a spiny fish that looks to be more bone than fish; he travels across the Black Sea on a Russian steamer, hobnobbing with just plain Russian folk who are very, very friendly; he takes part in the evening's festivities aboard a luxury liner going up the Nile, dressed as a Roman centurion. Through it all he smiles and has a visibly great time, and so does the viewer. This is an 8 part series, I believe, and seems to be over far too soon.