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The Trip To Greece brings Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon back to our screens in a fourth trip around Europe, following series 1’s Britain, series 2’s The Trip To Italy and series 3’s The Trip To Spain.
This series sees the pair retracing the steps of Odysseus, going from Troy to Ithaca, with the first episode going from Troy to Kavala, no longer requiring any intro actually getting them out there. Within a couple of minutes, they’re sitting down to their first meal, where they observe the waiters are addressing the description of the food to Rob and not Steve.
Rob comments: “I think he thinks that I’m your carer… and in many ways, I am(!)”
There’s mentions of Steve’s performance in Stan And Ollie (which I’ve still yet to see), before Rob suggests he should stand in for Tom Hardy, instead. Plus, when it comes to doing a fourth trip, Rob comments that as you get older, you start to repeat yourself, and Steve replies that originality is overrated.
And, of course, Rob plays “Guess the bill amount” game, once again, in the voice of the late, great Gay Byrne.
Watching this fourth outing is very much like putting on a comfortable pair of slippers… and can it really be ten years since the first series? Almost. The first episode, when it was still on BBC2, was set at The Inn at Whitewell, and was broadcast on November 1st 2010. I went there two years later for a meal and it was very nice. I haven’t been to the others, though, as they were all a bit arty-farty-expensivy in terms of meals and pricing.
There’s also music in the first episode includes Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto, performed by Adela Anthony, and in the second one, going from Kavala to Pelion, they get a massage, there’s a Basil Brush impression and there’s also some brief elements of plot development which you’ll discover as you come across them. Beyond this, I won’t comment on any other sections of the show, but will update my score as I watch them.
The first and second series of The Trip are available on both DVD and Blu-ray, but sadly, the latter are only ‘movie versions’, of around 105 minutes apiece, so losing almost 50% of the original running time. Why? I’d love a full HD version of all the series in full!
The Trip To Greece begins on Tuesday at 10pm on Sky One, and all episodes will be online at the same time. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
You can also buy:
- The Trip (first series) on Blu-ray and DVD.
- The Trip To Italy on Blu-ray and DVD.
Note: The above Blu-rays are just the shortened ‘movie’ versions, which is a shame.
- The Trip To Spain on DVD.
You can also buy the first three series on a DVD Boxset.
Series Score: 8/10
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Producers: Josh Hyams and Melissa Parmenter
Screenplay: Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan
Cast:
Steve: Steve Coogan
Rob: Rob Brydon
Emma: Claire Keelan
Kareem: Kareem Alkabbani
Chloe: Tessa Walker
Joe: Tim Leach
Mischa: Margo Stilley
Katherine: Cordelia Bugeja
Steve’s Father: Richard Clews
Ascanius: Harry Taylor
Greg: Justin Edwards
Sally: Rebecca Johnson
Receptionist (ep.2): Georgia Kakousoglou
Bar Owner (ep.2): Apostolos Vainopoulos
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.