Trip the light fantastic

EPISODE one of CRAIG AND BRUNO’S GREAT BRITISH ROAD TRIPS (ITV, 8pm) isn’t without its moments of quiet, sober reflection. One of them lasts almost 37 seconds. Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli are at the site of Cornwall’s Levant Mine.

Craig is talking about the terrible accident there in October 1919 in which 31 men lost their lives.

He and Bruno are also imagining how grim the tin miners’ daily grind must have been, having to dig beneath the sea bed a mile offshore.

“Can you imagine doing that every single day?” says Craig. “It’s incredible,” agrees Bruno. “Hard, hard work…” suggests Craig. “That’s hard work,” agrees Bruno.

But most of Craig And Bruno’s Great British Road Trips isn’t nearly this profound or insightful.

So how would I describe what it is like?

Well, imagine if a pair of judges from a dancing contest were invited to make a TV series in which, for no obvious reason, they get in a car and go pootling around the country, taking the scenic route and stopping off every so often to, y’know, find stuff out.

It’s basically that.That, plus lots of heavy-handed banter.

ITV does like a travel show with heavy-handed banter.

In this case, it’s not unlike the kind you’ll encounter if you subject yourself to an episode of that Gordon, Gino and Fred thing, only here it’s camper banter.

Bruno teases Craig, for example, about his Hyacinth Bouquet-style of driving. Craig teases Bruno about his Speedos. So yes, for the most part, Craig And Bruno’s Great British Road Trips is perfectly fine and perfectly pleasant and perfectly harmless and perfectly pointless. (They can have that quote for free for the DVD box set.)

And yes, it really does start in Cornwall, I guess because no one’s filmed there for nearly a fortnight.

Later on ITV, at 9pm, THE TWO RONNIES: RONNIE CORBETT’S LOST TAPES is a lovely hour of comedy nostalgia.

Clips from Corbett’s home movies are coupled with fond reflections from family, friends and famous admirers of the comedy greats. So yes, I’d definitely watch that if I were you.

Elsewhere, there’s an emotional moment in THE REPAIR SHOP (BBC1, 8pm) for a man who’s had his late gran’s running shoes fixed.

She wore them, he reveals, in the women’s 4x100m relay at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, helping Britain win silver.

With America taking gold, Hitler was apparently less than chuffed that afternoon.

“The German team were nailed-on favourites for the gold,” this chap explains, “and then dropped the baton…”

Oh well. I don’t suppose they got to drop it a second time.