Michael Palin In The Philippines

“There is a moment in episode one of Michael Palin in the Philippines where our host surveys a group of children swimming gaily in the harbour of Pangasa, a tiny island in what western atlases traditionally refer to as the South China Sea. “Oh, if only I were young again,” he muses. “Eighty-one would do!” Palin is now 83 and into his fifth decade of travel presenting, which is longer than he spent as an active member of Monty Python. Naturally, he is not a dynamic or imposing presence on screen. His insights are applied with a soft, broad brush and jokes like the one about pining for the lost vigour of his early 80s are his metier now: simple, classic, corny, even. This is despite late-period Palin, in the documentaries he has made since signing up with Channel 5 in 2018, visiting places scarred by conflict. Having previously journeyed to North Korea, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela, he’s taking it relatively easy in the Philippines, although all is not well there, either.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“Once you accept that Palin is not going to stop smiling or do a Paxman on Bongbong, then you get to enjoy an hour in the company of a brilliant, charming, interesting, but most of all interested, man. When Palin sees how a beautiful, once-untouched island region is being trampled by tourism, he notes that fact, but then chooses to focus on the people trying to manage that tourism. When he visits an island in disputed territory in the South China Sea, again, he doesn’t shy away from the geopolitics – this could well be the tinderbox for the next world war, he notes – but his interest is in the people who live there, and why they might have chosen to do so. It has been a doctrine that has served Palin well, and nor should he change it. If travel broadens the mind, then he is as broad-minded as they come, and it means he remains a wonderful guide, even through the choppiest of waters.”
Benji Wilson, Telegraph

“Venturing into the Manila slums, he visited a woman whose 15-year-old son was killed by a police death squad, for nothing more criminal than watching a basketball match. The previous president of the islands, Rodrigo Duterte, who is now facing charges of crimes against humanity, ordered the mass murder of teenagers in a psychotic attempt to control drugs gangs. The current president is an urbane Anglophile, educated in England, though he’s also the son of the Philippines’ most notorious rulers — Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. His name is Bongbong Marcos, and he injected a dose of spontaneity back into proceedings by summoning Michael unexpectedly to his palace, all chandeliers and carpets by the acre. Turns out the president is a Monty Python fan. With a name like that, it’s hardly surprising. Nudge nudge, wink wink, bong bong, know what I mean?”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail