TRAVEL MAN: 48 HOURS IN….C4, 8.30pm
“I AM going to drag you howling through a maxi mini-break,” says Richard Ayoade who’ll be showing you the best of Seville, and this time he’s joined by American comedian Rob Delaney on this manic tour of the Andalusian city which is charmingly known as “the frying pan of Europe.” Strange, I could have sworn that title belonged to Glasgow.
Ayoade is a joy to watch in these frantic travel shows. He’s the anti-Portillo. The former minister is jolly and sedate, strolling around Europe with his Bradshaw’s guide tucked under his arm, whereas Ayoade is sarcastic, stony-faced and wickedly funny.
The pair don’t indulge in typical Spanish tourist pleasures such as eating fish and chips and reading The Sun on the beach. Instead, they go on a jogging tour of the city so they can run past all the monuments. Ayoade is forced to apologise for his shabby tracksuit, explaining he’s just come from the “Stone Roses Re-enactment Society”.
Having worked up an appetite they indulge in the wild Spanish pastime of having dinner at 11pm, which is usually the hour Ayoade retreats and sets up his burglar alarms.
BOOMERS, BBC1, 9pm
“I CAN handle myself.”
“I wouldn’t in those shorts!”
That’s the type of humour you can expect in this new series of Boomers, the gently cheeky sitcom about a group of older people, ageing baby boomers, as they gossip, nag, squabble, and go on holiday together.
In tonight’s episode the boomers gather at a campsite to celebrate their friend Trevor’s 60th birthday. Trevor loves the great outdoors, and equally loves clogging up the roads with his lumbering caravan in order to get there. His poor wife sees it as nothing but a horse box with a toilet but daren’t say so and dash all poor Trevor’s illusions.
On the campsite the men try to show they’re still fit, young dudes by squeezing into lycra and trying a spot of mountain biking, leaving their wives back at the caravans to flirt with a Swedish holidaymaker who has a weakness for older women.
Boomers is never laugh-out-loud funny but it’s warm and charming and has an impressive cast of famous older faces, such as Alison Steadman, Stephanie Beacham and, er, Russ Abbott.
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