Tackling new frontiers

Is taking on a 1300-mile African adventure in his new TV show ‘They’ll smile, shout and yell at you, and within 30 seconds be your best mate’

Sir Michael Palin may be an octogenarian, having turned 80 last year, but if his adventures in Nigeria are anything to go by, it is clear he has no plans of slowing down any time soon.

He is back on screens in Channel 5’s Michael Palin In Nigeria, which sees him visit a country he has never been to before.

Given that the comedian, writer and presenter has been making TV travelogues for the best part of 40 years, it is a rarity to find a corner of the globe he has not explored. The three-part documentary sees the Monty Python star embark on a 1,300-mile journey across Nigeria, known as The Giant of Africa, with estimates that within 50 years it will be the third most populated country in the world after India and China. “I’m interested in countries that have great potential but for some reason and in some particular ways, don’t seem to be fulfilling it at the moment,” he explains.

“That happens in lots of countries including our own, but it’s of particular interest when you’re a traveller and you’re curious, and it gives a documentary an edge instead of looking around and just saying that everything is absolutely fine”.

He was also “interested in finding out what is really going on beneath the surface” and dives straight in during the first episode, where viewers will get to see him visit Makoko, often characterised as the biggest slum in Africa, as well as the coastal town of Badagry, which was once a slave port.

He also gets a glimpse at Lagos’ bustling nightlife, and meets Yeni Kuti, the daughter of late musician Fela Kuti – who is regarded as the father of Afrobeat.

The series follows the 2022 series Michael Palin: Into Iraq and the

Bafta-nominated Michael Palin In North Korea.

In addition, he has also become known for his globetrotting BBC travel programmes, which have seen him visit locations including the Himalayas and North and South Poles. He has also written a book to go alongside the series, he reveals, highlighting just one of his many career avenues after life as part of Monty Python.

Describing his first impressions of Nigeria, after landing in Lagos at 4.55am local time, he says: “Fairly chaotic and noisy. The airport is just full of people wandering about, everyone is larger than life, and the atmosphere is quite overwhelming to start with.”

But it is that energy that also adds to the unique experience of visiting Nigeria.

As Sir Michael discovers.

“Up to a certain point it is quite stimulating, and I realised later on that I felt a little bit freer sometimes in Nigeria than elsewhere,” he explains.

“There’s far less interference on the part of health and safety for example, but at the same time the electricity doesn’t work reliably and there are open sewers, which is quite a shock at first. “What was refreshing was that people in Nigeria are upfront and talk about anything – they smile, shout and yell at you, and within 30 seconds be your best mate. “In the last couple of series I’ve made for Channel 5 in North Korea and Iraq, people couldn’t talk to you in that way, so it was great to be able to engage with local people.” Michael Palin In Nigeria begins this week on Channel 5 and runs at 9pm on Tuesdays for the next two weeks

During his time in Nigeria, Michael Palin took to the streets of Makoko and Lagos, as well as heading to the coastal town of Badagry, which was once a slave port, right