Bill Bailey’s Vietnam

There was an article in The Guardian recently pleading for an end to sending comedians on exotic journeys and assuming that will make good TV. Initially I thought that this show was just another in the same tired genre but in fact it is perhaps the exception that demonstrates the truism.

This isn’t cheap and empty eye-candy with a few jokes. Bill is genuinely interesting and interested in Vietnam, its people and its history. This is no “white saviour”, this is an intelligent and talented person genuinely interacting with the people he meets and showing appropriate respect to laws and customs.

Yes, there are sarcastic moments (the naff jokes re fibre glass flamingos, the madness of Train Street) and there is humour (cheese ice cream) but there are also unscripted moments (the go-kart, stumbling up the mountain) and real pathos (the offerings to his mother and son Luke).

It is all these moments that tend to put the other travel shows in the shade, with their superficiality and limp jokes. If all celebrity travelogues were this good then the Guardian article would be redundant but the sheer quality and care put into this show just demonstrates how poor the rest are.