ROLAND WHITE reviews last night’s TV: Not so much a race as a lovely ride – until family tensions boil over
Race Across The World (BBC1)
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Secret Life of The Forest (Channel 5)
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There is a clear winner after just one episode of the new Race Across The World (BBC1). Step forward, the wonderful people of Canada.
This is the third series, so you’ll know the drill by now. Ten people, working in pairs and weighed down with heavy backpacks and a camera crew, must journey huge distances on a modest budget. Strictly no air travel.
This year, they have to cover just under 10,000 miles across Canada from west to east. If yesterday is anything to go by, that should be a doddle.
Here’s how it works: Weary contestant, probably a bit frazzled and fresh from a row with their travelling partner, to passing motorist: ‘Excuse me, is there any chance that you might drive two complete strangers, plus a camera crew, for about 250 miles in the pounding rain? That’s if you’re not doing anything else this morning.’
The People of Canada: ‘Why sure, hop in’.
Married couple Zainib and Mobeen — he’s quite laid back, and she most definitely isn’t — managed a day’s skiing in the resort of Whistler
Claudia and Kevin seem to have quite a fragile relationship. She was in tears after a minor disagreement, so this trip could be challenging.
There is a £20,000 prize for the first pair to reach the final checkpoint, but for some of the contestants that seemed less important than seeing the sights and enjoying the ride. Married couple Zainib and Mobeen — he’s quite laid back, and she most definitely isn’t — managed a day’s skiing in the resort of Whistler. Father and daughter Claudia and Kevin took a detour to go grizzly bear spotting.
Claudia and Kevin seem to have quite a fragile relationship. She was in tears after a minor disagreement, so this trip could be challenging.
Trish and Cathie, friends from childhood, struggled to get out of the park where the race started but made good. Brothers Marc and Michael are my tip for a monumental bust-up: apparently, they didn’t hit it off as children.
My early feeling is that viewers will be backing father-and-daughter team Ladi and Monique. Ladi is a proper gent. After getting a lift from a bus driver, he helped to wash the bus. As he explained to a sceptical Monique, it always pays to be kind.
She describes Dad as her ‘superhero’. He says she’s a bit of a princess (he was carrying some of her stuff in his backpack). But they get on, and they’re relaxed about the challenge. If they get their tactics right, they could win this.
Watching Secret Life Of The Forest (Ch5) was a chance to sit back and just let the wonders of nature wash over you.
My early feeling is that viewers will be backing father-and-daughter team Ladi and Monique
It was also a chance to reflect on the unsung heroes of nature documentaries: forget star presenters, all hail the photographers.
Virtually every shot here was a thing of beauty, whether it was badgers doing their household chores, a swarming nest of wood ants, or close-up shots of colourful moths.
We were at Dalby in Yorkshire, where a family of beavers were filmed going about their daily business. Apparently, it’s almost impossible to sex a beaver, which is a phrase you probably don’t read very often. They have no external sex organs.
The Dalby beavers were unusual in that the young members of the family seemed reluctant to leave home as is usual after three years. Forest rangers effectively took the youngsters into care, and sent them to new homes in Norfolk and London.
The young male beaver in London promptly died from natural causes. Nature can be very heartless.
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