TV review: An Idiot Abroad

AFTER finishing off the perfectly scripted sitcoms that were The Office and Extras, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's next project was a bit low key – or at least it was supposed to be.

Returning to the radio station where they had first started, they made a few shows for the internet, most of which consisted of them poking fun at the local producer Karl Pilkinton, whose bizarre, endlessly cynical and inventive thoughts on everything allowed Gervais, below, and Merchant to essentially put their feet up and have a chuckle.

The podcasts went on to become a world success, eventually growing into a cartoon in which Pilkinton again took centre stage.

Now, in what he has described as a massive practical joke, Gervais has talked Pilkinton into doing a travel show for Sky. It's a joke to Gervais because he made sure his "friend" had to take part in the freaky local customs and odd practices. Since Pilkinton feels uncomfortable at everything, it's doubly unpleasant.

The first thing that was obvious was that Pilkinton actually looks just like his cartoon, which is a little unsettling. That feeling soon passed however as he headed off to China, where the crew had put him up in terrible hotels and set him up to eat insects, get into street fights and experience a public toilet without doors or loo paper.

It was all very amusing and should make a star out of Pilkinton.

After all, the Great Wall of China may well be a massive feat of engineering which can be seen from space, but when seen from the ground in the baking heat while 'wall vendors' haggle over the price of water, it really seems like little more than some old bricks.

Or as Pilkinton put it: "It goes on for miles. But so does the M6."