Last night on television Gerard O’donovan
An enjoyably bizarre return for Michael Palin
The oddest moment of Michael Palin in North Korea (Channel 5) occurred at daybreak on his first day in the capital, Pyongyang. No deafening traffic here, nor the calls to prayer that epitomise other great cities’ dawns. Instead, from his hotel balcony Palin experienced “the world’s most unusual wake-up call”: a silence broken only by the tinny strains of a jaunty group-think song, Where Are You, Dear General? blaring from public address speakers across the city.
“It’s a bit Brian Eno,” he quipped but the effect was surreal. And surreal seemed the order of every day in Pyongyang. From advert-free streets (though propaganda abounded) to the ranks of Stalinist housing blocks painted in cheery pastel colours. From the clockwork dances of the traffic police to the health spa where Palin was invited to have one of 12 officially sanctioned haircuts. Wisely, he opted for a head massage instead.
From the start Palin emphasised that his every move was monitored by minders, that what he could film was tightly controlled. But working within those limits he hoped to “get beyond the politics” and to get to know, or just observe, the people themselves. “Because that’s the point of travel,” he said. “To see that people are much closer to us than we think.”
He achieved this in part at least. Largely by dealing with the North Koreans on their own terms, he never overtly pushed boundaries but probed away gently, amiably sifting, the camera alert to visual cues that betrayed hidden truths about this repressive regime. A school visit showcased young people with a surprising knowledge of the outside world. Hand-picked, no doubt, and clearly inculcated to within an inch of their young lives.
I can’t think of a travel documentary I’ve enjoyed more than this, recently. Apart from the quirks and conundrums of the last truly bizarre place on Earth, it was a treat just to see Palin back in travel mode for the first time in years. At the outset he promised that “this will turn out to be the most revealing journey of my life.” For a man who’s travelled so much of the globe on our behalf, that’s quite an assertion. I look forward to him delivering again next week.