What will Joanna Lumley make of Hong Kong – a place she last visited when she was four? The British actor and icon begins her eccentric, 6,400-mile journey to Moscow in this illuminating region. Next, in Beijing, she meets a woman claiming to have known the last Chinese emperor’s favorite concubine. From here, she stops at the Great Wall and travels overnight to Mongolia via the Gobi Desert.

The British actor and icon reaches Mongolia, the mid-point of her 6,400-mile journey along the storied rail route. Here, she spends time with nomads and visits a giant Genghis Khan statue. In the capital, Ulan Bator, she tracks down the famous throat-singers. Next, bound for Russia and the Siberian leg of her trek, she experiences a spot of bother at the border.

In the final part of her epic trek, the British acting legend crosses Siberia. She visits one of the world’s deepest lakes, meets an oligarch and visits Yekaterinburg, where Russia’s last royal family were executed. Moving on to Moscow, she explores Stalin’s nuclear bunker, meets local models and returns to the place where she was photographed in 1966 – which first inspired her to take this trip.