TRAVEL MAN

Michael Palin: Into Iraq, 9pm, Ch5

IN MARCH 2022, at the age of 78, Michael Palin embarked on a 1,000-mile journey along the Tigris — from the river’s source in eastern Turkey to the Persian Gulf — to explore a country that’s fascinated him since he was a boy but is one of the very few that he has never visited before. Visiting ruins both ancient (at Babylon) and modern (at Mosul, pictured), he meets Iraqis whose lives in the ‘cradle of civilisation’ have been blighted by war. But he also finds time for food and festivals in this first of three parts — a welcome respite in uncertain times.