- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
Griff Rhys Jones sets off from Windsor Castle in a beautiful, purring 1964 Rolls-Royce Phantom. He’s following the route of Elizabeth I’s 1574 Royal Progress to Bristol. Of course, the Virgin Queen never reclined on the leather seats of a vintage Roller, but Rhys Jones wants to approximate the luxury in which she would have travelled.
It’s an episodic journey with the kind of children’s TV elements so beloved of these “bloke travels the country” series when Jones has to try his hand at various tasks along the way. Thus he rides a horse, badly, has a go at archery and Elizabethan dancing and is taught Elizabethan table manners at a dinner.
Britain’s Lost Routes is a typically light, dilettantish BBC1 history-isn’t-scary-so-please-don’t-run-away series, but Jones is an amiable guide, even if you can’t shake off the feeling that it’s all a bit beneath him.
About this programme
1/4. The actor sets out on a journey to discover the most influential pathways in the nation's history. He begins by retracing Queen Elizabeth I's route through the Cotswolds and into the West Country, re-creating the baggage train the monarch took with her, sampling Elizabethan forms of transport and exploring some of the castles and stately homes she visited along the way.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Presenter
- Griff Rhys Jones
Crew
- Director
- Michael Wadding
- Executive Producer
- Nick Shearman
- Executive Producer
- Franny Moyle
- Producer
- Michael Wadding
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