Connolly set to swap Harley Davidson for train in new travel series across America
BILLY Connolly is to swap his famous Harley Davidson motor trike for the train in a new television travel series.
The Big Yin has been signed up for a documentary where he journeys across America by railroad.
It will see the 72-year-old, who is battling Parkinson’s disease, travelling on US national rail operator Amtrak while stopping off in US towns and cities.
And the show, called Tracks Across America, is set to see him visit Glasgow – not his home city but its namesake in Montana.
The travelogue will be filmed later this summer and is expected to be shown as a four-part series on ITV next year.
Bonnie Davidson, a resident of Glasgow in the US, acted as a guide to producers on a recent scouting trip to the town.
She said: “Michelle Crowther, a series producer from London, made a call a few weeks ago to see what interesting things might be around Glasgow and what kind of interesting characters might be lurking.
“Her mission was to scout out the trip that would be made across America on Amtrak by the famous Scottish comedian Billy Connolly. They said the se- ries will be called Tracks Across America.
“She said that Connolly loves America and trains and seeing the landscapes and coastal routes along the train track. As Connolly was raised in Glasgow in Scotland, the stop here in Glasgow, Montana, seems logical.
“She said before her visit that she hoped to find the ‘spirit of Glasgow’ while in town.”
Filming on the series will begin in late August and early September.”
Channel bosses were keen to sign up the star after the success of his previous series in recent years.
In 2011, he took on the famous Route 66 on his Harley for another show and he won a best presenter honour at the Royal Television Society Awards for last year’s series, Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off, in which he looked at death.