'' An Idiot Abroad'' is a travel documentary television series that was originally broadcast on Sky1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was created by and features Karl Pilkington and his former radio show colleagues Ricky Gervais and

Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer. Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...

. , 20 episodes of ''An Idiot Abroad'' have aired over three series. The first series aired between 23 September and 11 November 2010 and centred on Pilkington's journeys to the

New Seven Wonders of the World The New 7 Wonders of the World was a campaign started in 2000 to choose Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. The popularity poll via free Web-based voting and small amounts of telephone voting was led by Canadian-Swiss ...

(excluding

the Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

, which was replaced by the

Great Pyramids The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of ...

); it ran for eight episodes. In the second series, which aired 23 September – 11 November 2011, Pilkington participates in several popular "

bucket list Bucket list may refer to: * A list of activities to do before dying ("kick the bucket") * Wish list * ''The Bucket List'', a 2007 comedy film * ''Bucket List'' (2018 film), a 2018 Indian Marathi comedy-drama film * "Bucket List" (song), a 2013 ...

" activities, such as

swimming with dolphins The popularity of swimming with dolphins increased in the 1980s and 1990s, occurring in over 65 countries, both as a form of therapy as well as a tourist activity. Proponents of dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) say that interacting with dolphins can ...

and climbing Mount Fuji; it also ran for eight episodes. A third series, a three-part special titled ''The Short Way Round'', aired 30 November – 21 December 2012; in it, Karl was accompanied by

Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis (born 3 February 1970) is an English actor. He played the title character in ''Willow'' (1988) and the ''Leprechaun'' film series (1993–2003), several characters in the ''Star Wars'' film series (1983–2019), most nota ...

, who stars in Gervaiss situation comedy show '' Life's Too Short'', on a trip loosely recreating Marco Polos 13th-century journey from

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

to China. Stephen Merchant did not participate in the third series. The first two series have been released on DVD in

Regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

1, 2, and 4. The third series has only been released on DVD in Region 2. In February 2013,

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

, which broadcast all three series in North America, began rebroadcasting episodes of ''An Idiot Abroad'' under the title ''An Idiot Abroad: Lost Luggage''. Each ''Lost Luggage'' episode consists of the original episode and two brief, new "Lost Luggage" segments filmed at Gervaiss home in England which were not included in the original episode. In each "Lost Luggage" segment, Gervais and Pilkington hold a short discussion.

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1: ''The 7 Wonders'' (2010)

Series 2: ''The Bucket List'' (2011)

Series 3: ''The Short Way Round'' (2012)

The special was split into four parts, "The 3rd and final series of An Idiot Abroad...consists of three, 1 hour specials scheduled for December" and aired at the end of 2012.

''Lost Luggage'' (2013)

Rebroadcasts in North America on Science of episodes from previous series, each including two new "Lost Luggage" segments filmed at Gervaiss home in England in which Gervais and Pilkington hold brief discussions.

Notes

* Episode viewing figures from

BARB Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Idiot Abroad episodes, List of An Lists of British comedy television series episodes Lists of British non-fiction television series episodes