Larry and George Lamb are going on holiday together. That’s Larry Lamb the actor (Archie Mitchell in EastEnders, Mick Shipman in Gavin & Stacey) not Larry Lamb the dead newspaper editor and page 3 pioneer. And George Lamb his son, also on TV and the radio, not George Lamb the even deader (in 1834) politician and writer.
Larry and George have been on holiday together for television before, to Namibia to stay with a tribe. This one, less thrillingly, is Britain By Bike With Larry & George Lamb (Channel 5). But still, Larry’s got an electric bike – that might liven things up a bit, and make life a bit easier for him on the steep inclines of the Yorkshire Dales, which is where they are in the first episode. He is nearly 70 after all.
They do have a slight Yorkshire connection. Larry met George’s mum in Yorkshire, he tells his son on the train up. Perhaps that will lead to some interesting Freudian father-and-son self-analysis that will continue throughout the series; difficult memories dragged out, repressed emotions released, an Oedipus complex perhaps … “That’s nuts,” says George.
Not that kind of show then. More like a bit of gentle family banter, often about George not having any power assistance on his bicycle. It’s a couple of minor celebs touring around, trying stuff out, that’s what kind of show it is. “Look at that,” they say every time there’s a view (which, in the Dales, is often).
They have a go at working with a sheepdog. They make pork pies in Skipton, go to a sheepdog auction and try their hand at fly-fishing. George does a bit of the Tour de France route at Buttertubs Pass, and has a go at rock climbing at Malham Cove. Larry takes in the Ribblehead viaduct, and meets up with his old pal Duncan Preston off Emmerdale.
Then they all end up at the pub for beer and cheer, and to watch ferrets racing along tubes. They love Yorkshire; George says he feels blessed to have been. Which is lovely for Larry and George, but for the rest of us? It’s possible the other Larry and George Lamb would have been more interesting.
