''Michael Palin's New Europe'' is a
travel documentary
A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or tourist attractions without recommending particular package deals or tour operators. A travelogue film is an early type of travel ...
presented by
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
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 Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
– the programme was filmed in the wake of the
2004 enlargement of the European Union
The largest expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population took place on 1 May 2004.
The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries): ...
(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.
Press release
/ref> The result was made into seven one-hour programmes for BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
and simulcast on BBC HD
BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...
. A book, '' New Europe'', was also written describing the trip, and illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao
Basil Pao Ho-Yun (鲍皓昕) is a Hong Kong-based photographer. He has been the stills photographer on the BBC filming teams that made Michael Palin's television travel programmes.
Early career
Pao was born in Hong Kong, but started his career a ...
.
Episodes
The series consists of seven one-hour episodes:
References
External links
*
Palin's Travels –- the official website
*
* Michael Palin's Intervie
{{Michael Palin's Trips
2007 British television series debuts
2007 British television series endings
2000s British documentary television series
BBC television documentaries
2000s British travel television series
Television shows filmed in Albania
Television shows filmed in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Television shows filmed in Bulgaria
Television shows filmed in Croatia
Television shows filmed in the Czech Republic
Television shows filmed in Estonia
Television shows filmed in Germany
Television shows filmed in Hungary
Television shows filmed in Latvia
Television shows filmed in Lithuania
Television shows filmed in North Macedonia
Television shows filmed in Moldova
Television shows filmed in Poland
Television shows filmed in Romania
Television shows filmed in Russia
Television shows filmed in Serbia
Television shows filmed in Slovakia
Television shows filmed in Slovenia
Television shows filmed in Turkey
Works by Michael Palin