Jack’s travails with his father
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THE 1969 murders by the notorious Manson Family never become less shocking. Manson: The Lost Tapes on ITV on Thursday began with a disturbing interview of Manson disciple Sandra Good saying: “When somebody needs to be killed, there’s no wrong, you do it. You kill whoever gets in your way. This is us. If we were unarmed we would chew their necks off, anything, claw their eyes out.” What followed were clips and interviews, some previously unseen, telling how Charles Manson (inset) assembled a group of young followers who became cold-blooded killers. The footage was so unbelievable, at times it was like watching a shaky-cam horror movie. Chilling. MICHAEL Whitehall made a fairly blunt start to Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father. Dad Michael, not one to mince his words, simply declared: “I thought it would be fun to go abroad, show Jack there is more to life than telling jokes about his penis. “The problem with Jack is that he hasn’t really matured,” continues the 78-year-old, who wants to take 30-yearold Jack on a cultural tour of Europe. The former TV producer and actors’ agent has become a star in his own right thanks to last year’s series, a “gap year” tour of South East Asia and the hit BBC3 show Backchat. He often upstages his son with his trademark stuffy British grumpy persona. Jack, posh actor and comedian, is always ready with a middle-class joke or two about Waitrose or private healthcare. The League of Their Own and Bad Education star once joked: “I took my dad to a Mcdonald’s the other day. He asked to see a wine list.” That sums up their humour – snobby dad and son duo attempt travel in the face of disasters, such as a hotel that isn’t five star or a drinks menu lacking in champagne.
Ross Kemp can rest easy, there’s no competition here for the hardcore survival niche. Hardly intrepid travellers, this could be renamed #Middleclassproblems or Travels Without A First Class Lounge.
This second series on Netflix sees Michael planning his historical tour, with the help of some canapes and a map.
Jack wants to ditch the museums, suggesting: “We could sack this all off and go to Vegas. Have an amazing lads and dads tour?” Michael is horrified.
The show has morphed into a comedy that is part travelogue, part scripted sitcom, as they visit various places and “accidentally” land themselves in mad situations. It’s a bit like they are playing fictionalised versions of themselves. But it doesn’t matter, it’s funny.
Whether they are dressed as clowns at a Ukraine parade, having an extremely polite snowball fight in Bavaria or braving the standard-class carriage on a sleeper train, the odd couple are entertaining.
Occasionally there’s even some actual tourguiding. But not for long, then it’s back to the banter. “He’s a very nice boy Jack, he’s just a bit thick,” quips the deadpan Michael, who wears a suit and tie, with hanky, in every situation.
In Friday’s episode, Bavarian Joe, a man with a moustache almost as impressive as the feather in his hat, introduced them to beer, bratwurst, naked male spa-ing and motorcycle skijoring, which resulted in Jack landing head first in a snowy ditch.
“This cultural tour has gone off the rails very quickly,” noted Jack’s mum via Facetime. She’s right. But with TV schedules stuffed to capacity with celebrity travel shows, I could do with a culture shock.
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