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The best thing on telly for ages. Some amazing places visited.
Wasn't til the end that I realised how much I didn't want the winners to win.
Hope they do another one.
Totally agree, fantastic from the BBC
We agree also.
Sadly we can't apply as a family of 5 for next year...
same here. wanted the oldies first, but they lost me when she was chuntering about them being too slow cos of his bad back and just general moaning. wanted the lad and his dad, a proper story that one....
Yep. A genuinely novel concept to the idea. There was an article on the BBC site about the filming and logistics behind it.
Can be quite hard to keep the overall/general route secret as countries often require certain inoculations if you don't arrive directly from Western Europe or North America, so presumably they got everything!
The announcement over the end credits seemed to indicate that there'll be another series/race in the offing.
Really enjoyed that! Happy for the older couple to win as they obviously put the effort in, but a little sad that the Dad and his lad just lost out. Given me lots of ideas for travel anyway.
It wasn't quite as close a finish as the BBC would have us believe, if you looked closely at the times in the book, there was 3 1/2 hours between first and second, it came across as who got the money changed in time and was fastest up the lift. Good series, but why do we have to have this never ending stream of false jeopardy.
Whole family enjoyed it and also noticed the 3 hour time difference (initially spotted the sunset meaning it was much later in the day). In fairness it was the oldies who started fretting they could see the others on the bridge behind them.
Very slight smile that the hipsters came in last and broke, but they all did well. Must admit I'd be dying for some exercise rather than sitting on another bus.
So 12,000 miles in 50 days. Mark Beaumont (with campervan support) managed 18,000 miles around the world in 79 days (including time for air transfers to Aus, NZ, USA and Europe). Wonder if he could have beaten them on a bike?
Wonder where the next series will go?
Nah, didn’t want to oldies to win after their lies/gamesmanship/trying to hide from the dad/lad at the end. I get not telling them your onward route, but not telling them where you have been/lying about it is unnecessary.
Think the lad and dad got the most out of the trip though, if not the £20k.
Felt like there was a lot of bunching the teams back up behind the scenes to keep the 'race' going otherwise dad and lad would have romped it once they'd opened their commanding lead.
I wouldn't have fancied bring stuck in that ferry/freighter for as long as they were unless I was stuck in the cabin with Shameema.....
Wasn't keen on the young lad in the father and son team at first but he just got better and better as the journey went on. Was disappointed he didn't win.
Love it...whole family love it too & we're all sat there saying we'd love to do it. But i cant read the replies in this thread yet as we've been watching it on iplayer intermittently & haven't see the final yet!
Presumably will have to be a different destination for another series, but where can they go roughly that distance I wonder?
Wanted Dad and lad to win, but I agree they got something much better than £20k from it.
The destination will have to be the same, as it’s the furthest point from London you can get to by car/foot/ferry.
Different checkpoints maybe?
A lot depends on how volatile certain countries and regions are - you wouldn't be routing them through Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan for example. Also you get border disputes - getting between Russia and Ukraine might be interesting. The time of year will play a part as well - some of the higher passes don't become snow free until quite late on so you might not be able to go further south towards the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalaya.
How difficult would Cape Town be or would they all end up going the same way?
Would have been interesting if one team had missed the boat that got stuck.
I’m not sure if their “days out “ were enforced but there should be pit stop days of their choice. Otherwise you will just get people dropping some sleeping pills and doing mega non stop coach trips.
The train trip across Turkey looked great.
I had wondered, when they were in warmer climbs when they were skint, why they didn’t just sleep rough.
If I were to do it, I’d get from point A to point B ASAP, then go back and do it properly with my winnings.
What a load of twaddle. Manufactured purely for TV. How did the ever present camera crews always manage to be just where they were? Always just in front of the "competitors". Cheap TV for wannabee celebrities.
@sarawak - the film crews (I think 2 people) were "embedded" with each team. Presumably they were in contact with each other so they didn't appear in shot when teams met one another (or a lot of editing). More info here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-47827316
It's TV, it's entertainment. Much preferable to "has X got naff all talent" shows.
Loved it - whilst i'm aware there must have been a bit of 'fiddling' behind the scenes i thought it was still an inspiring idea.
My kids loved it, and it has given us some ideas for places to visit.
Certainly makes Top Gear and their made-up fake challenges look even more ridiculous.
Enjoyed it, but you only have to see the editing and the "work experiences" to know that it's mostly faked, I would have preferred if they had really been that close at the end & the winners had agreed to split the £20k but for reasons I wanted the 2nd place team to win I don't think splitting the winnings would have ever occurred to the winners.
Still a heart warming bit of TV