Michael Palin's New Europe
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Michael Palin's New Europe is a travel documentary presented by Michael Palin and first aired in the UK on the BBC on 16 September 2007 and in the US on the Travel Channel on 28 January 2008. Palin visits 20 countries in Central and Eastern and Southeast Europe – the programme was filmed in the wake of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union (and shortly before the 2007 enlargement), which included many of the countries visited by Palin and significantly reshaped east–west relations on the continent. The filming was done in 2006 and early 2007 using HD (high definition) equipment. The result was made into seven one-hour programmes for BBC One and simulcast on BBC HD. A book, New Europe, was also written describing the trip, and illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao.
Episodes
The series consists of seven one-hour episodes:
| Number | UK title | US title | Countries visited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | War and Peace | Across the Iron Curtain | Slovenia (briefly), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Albania |
| 2 | Eastern Delight | From the Rila Mountains to Cappodocia | Republic of Macedonia (briefly), Bulgaria and Turkey |
| 3 | Wild East | From the Dniestr to the Danube | Transnistria (briefly), Moldova and Romania Palin celebrated Transnistrian National Day, met a Moldovan self-sufficient old woman, worked with Romanian lumberjacks, interviewed Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase and visited Transylvania and Bucharest with its Palace of the Parliament. |
| 4 | Danube to Dnieper | Hungary to Yalta | Hungary and Ukraine |
| 5 | Baltic Summer | The Baltic States | Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) Palin joined in the festivities with some Neopagans. |
| 6 | From Pole to Pole | Poland | Poland |
| 7 | Journey's End | The End of the Line | Slovakia (briefly), Czech Republic and Germany (former East Germany) |
BBC complaint
The first episode of the series received a complaint due to alleged bias about the Bosnian War. The complainant criticised Palin's statement that the destruction of Mostar's Stari Most bridge had no reason, as well as a suggestion that Serbia was "unfairly blamed" for the war. In August 2008, the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee upheld the complaint, saying that the show attempted to show context to its statement about Serbia, but had oversimplified a controversial topic. It also said that the bridge comment was inaccurate as the destruction of the bridge was in order to isolate Bosniaks. The committee rejected part of the complaint, an accusation that the show was impartial because it did not mention the Srebrenica massacre.
In September 2009, Palin told the Royal Television Society that the complainant was allegedly a "serial complainer", adding "The complaint was upheld. That, I believe, brings the BBC into disrepute. I think it was a stupid decision. I felt very, very angry and very let down". When Palin left the BBC for Channel 5 in 2012, he mentioned the upheld complaint as a cause of friction.
External links
- at IMDb
- at BBC Online
- Michael Palin's Interview [dead link]