Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime

Michael Palin revisits his first groundbreaking travel series, and fans, including Sir David Attenborough and Joanna Lumley, reflect on his achievement.

After crossing from Russia to Japan, Michael Palin visits the famous Kodo drummers in Sado where he stays in a traditional ryokan, and is guided through Tokyo by one of his oldest and most dedicated fans.

Michael Palin takes on his most ambitious journey yet around the Pacific Rim, taking in Russia, China, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand, and North and South America.

In this episode Michael is inspired by the apparent emptiness of the Sahara Desert as seen from a flight and by boyhood dreams of exploration, Michael sets off to find out what this ‘blank space’ contains.

This epic journey is for Michael the fulfilment of boyhood dreams. Beginning in the famous Khyber Pass, he travels through Pakistan and India, to Dharamshala, where he meets the Dalai Lama.

Continuing his Himalayan journey, Michael ascends into Nepal and Tibet to reach Everest base camp itself, where he follows in the footsteps of his heroes, 1920s mountaineers Mallory and Irvine.