Michael Palin: Into Iraq
DOCUMENTARY 9PM, CHANNEL 5
Iraq was the birthplace of civilisation 6,000 years ago, but in recent decades it has been redefined by war. Wanting to see how life is now, Michael travels 1,000 miles across the country following the course of the Tigris River through cities now familiar from news broadcasts – from Mosul through Baghdad and Basra to the Persian Gulf. In Mosul, he comes across smiling children happily playing among the ruins of the devastated city. There is more joy when he goes to the mountain town of Akre for the chaotic, exuberant celebrations of Newroz – the Kurdish New Year. And in Erbil, he finds a wealthy, glitzy city where ostentatious buildings include a replica of the White House. JE