Around the World in 80 Days — Season 1, Episode 3: Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury
Documentary • 60 min • 1 season, 6 episodes
Episode synopsis
In a re-enactment of Jules Verne's literary odyssey, six pairs of celebrities race against the clock to raise money for 2009's BBC Children in Need. They form a global relay to circumnavigate the world in 80 days without flying. The celebrity relay continues with Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury from Countryfile. Can they travel 3,700 miles from Kazakhstan to China in just 14 days? Finding themselves close to the Kazakh city of Semey and intrigued by its dark past as a nuclear testing site, they take a detour to meet an eccentric nuclear scientist with a museum full of radioactive exhibits. Later, a brush with the Russian customs police sees them ordered off the train and they must race through the night by road to make their connection on the Trans-Siberian railway. In Mongolia they spend the night in a traditional tent, called a 'ger', with a family of nomads and eat some very fresh goat stew. Visiting one of Mongolia's biggest festivals, the 'Naddam', Matt takes on a local wrestling champion with painful consequences. They resume their journey but receive an unexpected call with some bad news... Frank Skinner narrates.
About Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days is a British travel documentary series made to support the annual BBC Children in Need charity appeal in 2009. It sees twelve celebrities attempt to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days without using air transport, recreating the journey of Phileas Fogg and Michael Palin. Like Fogg and Palin, the journey begins and ends at the Reform Club in London. It was first shown on BBC One and BBC HD in October and November 2009.