Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin
Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin is a 7-part BBC television travel series first broadcast on BBC1 from 11 October to 22 November 1989, and presented by comedian and actor Michael Palin. Inspired by Jules Verne's 1872 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, in which Phileas Fogg accepts a wager to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days or less, Palin takes on the same task, prohibited from using aircraft in order to use a combination of trains, boats and other forms of transport, to take him across several countries around his circumnavigation of the world, including Italy, Egypt, China, Japan, and the United States.
The programme was a critical and commercial success, gaining strong ratings in the UK and selling well abroad. It was also released on video tape and later on DVD. Following the trip Michael Palin wrote Around the World in [80 Days (Michael Palin book)|a book] about the experience. The book contains much more detail, along with photographs, than could be presented in the TV programme, and Palin's personal views are also more evident.
The series later spawned two further globe-crossing series featuring Palin – Pole to Pole with Michael Palin, an 8-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1992; and Full Circle with Michael Palin, a 10-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1997 – as well as addition travel series in later years – Hemingway Adventure first broadcast in 1999, Sahara first broadcast in 2002, Himalaya first broadcast in 2004, New Europe first broadcast in 2007, Brazil first broadcast in 2012, Michael Palin in North Korea broadcast in 2018, and Michael Palin: Into Iraq aired in 2022.
Synopsis
In 1988, the BBC offers Michael Palin a challenge to undertake for them – to circumnavigate the world in 80 days, much like Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg undertook in Verne's 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days. With the start and finish line being the Reform Club in London, Palin would be required to not use aircraft, which would not have been around in the late 19th century, instead relying on various modes of transportation, mostly consisting of passenger trains and commercial ships. In agreement to this, Palin was also given the task of acquiring a series of souvenirs along the journey for three 'referees' - Robert Hewison, and fellow Pythons Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam. Accompanying Palin would be a small five-man film crew, who the comedian collectively names after Passepartout, Phileas Fogg's manservant.Each episode of the series focuses on a specific leg of the journey, and the sights and people Palin encounters. In addition, the show also features the various problems and obstacles encountered on the journey that impeded progress, and Palin and his team's efforts to overcome them by negotiations and finding alternative arrangements to keep on track of completing the circumnavigation within the eighty day limit.
Production
The journey around the world lasted from 25 September to 12 December 1988. Palin travelled through the following countries by foot, train, ship, balloon, and husky dog, amongst other methods of transport : United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and the United States.Only four members of Palin's film crew completed the circumnavigation: Clem Vallance and Roger Mills, and Angela Elbourne and Ann Holland. The three others who started with him left when they got to Hong Kong, and were replaced by others. Strictly speaking, it was only Palin who obeyed the rules of the journey, as the production team was not allowed on the road trip across Saudi Arabia and Qatar or on the Croatian ship. The remainder of the team flew on these stretches. During the Jeddah to Dubai episode, Palin managed to snap a few pictures, which are seen in the documentary.
While preparing for the journey, Palin had a chat with documentarist Alan Whicker. In the book and an interview on the DVD, Palin mentions that Whicker had been the BBC's first choice of presenter, but he and two others had declined; Palin was fourth on the BBC's list.