Richard Ayoade crams a lot into a mini-break. For Travel Man: 48 Hours in Seville (Channel 4), he’s with Rob Delaney, the comedian and actor. They check in to their hotel, go on a running tour (that’s a good idea, isn’t it?) then stuff a lot of churros – deep fried dough sticks dipped in chocolate – into themselves (that’s an even better idea). Timber lovers, they ascend the world’s largest wooden structure, a giant fungal growth designed by a German and made of Finnish birch. They learn to flamenco. They eat more (ham, cheese, cold eggy soup, more ham) at an insanely late hour for tea.
Day two: after a breakfast of egg-yolk sweets prepared by nuns, they pack themselves into a tiny car and tour pretty much the entire region of Andalusia while air-drumming and eating crisps, ending up at a film set and wild-west theme park for horse-riding and horse allergies, before swinging through the doors of the sad saloon for Fanta and Kinder Eggs.
I’m not so keen on celebrity travelogues. I don’t much like mini-breaks to be honest (I miss the football). I do like Travel Man though. He has a healthy gentle disrespect for the local culture. Disrespect may be too strong: it’s more like teasing, but the flamenco lady doesn’t see the funny side, gets the hump and ends the class prematurely. Travel Man is not worthy or pretentious. Ayoade makes no attempt to pronounce anything too Spanishly (Angel, the running tour guide, is Angel, like Grange Hill – not Anghell). And the companion thing gives it a nice dynamic, a bit like The Trip with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan. I don’t like Travel Man as much as I like The Trip, because it’s not as hilarious or honest or excruciating, but I like it.
Boomers (BBC1)? Not so much. The sitcom about 60-somethings, set in a campsite for Trevor’s birthday in this first episode, might have some spirited performances from a starry cast (Alison Steadman, Stephanie Beacham, etc) but God it’s groansome. “I like to jump on the exercise bike first thing in the morning.” “That’s no way to talk about Carol ...” Really? In 2016? Boom boom.
