What to watch
Our Guy in Russia CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
Idiosyncratic lorry mechanic Guy Martin embarks on a threeepisode, 10,000-mile trip from Moscow to Siberia in a similar vein to his travelogues to India and China. Beginning in the Russian capital, Martin swerves some of the usual tourist destinations for quirkier sites and meetings: he hangs out with the Night Wolves, the right-wing biker gang favoured by President Vladimir Putin, and meets “rooftoppers”, young people who risk their necks hanging off Moscow’s skyscrapers to pose for selfies.
Action scenes include a ride in a stunt jet and a journey in a luxury ZIL car. But because Martin is a man of few words, his exchanges with Muscovites are inevitably brief; it’s forced the programme makers to insert a distracting voice-over by actor Shaun Dooley to fill in the blanks. He tells us where Martin is and what he’s doing alongside providing a history of 20th-century Russia. The resulting programme is a bit of a mess: while Martin is a likeable English eccentric, Michael Palin he ain’t. He seems uneasy out of his comfort zone and lacks the powers of reflection that make an engaging travel presenter. Keep Martin in his milieu is our advice.