Luckily, Travel Man has never really been about the places they visit. (A point proven by the fact that the show visited Iceland not that long ago, in 2015). It’s all to do with the comedic potterings of the travellers, and Lycett and Bailey pottered exceedingly well. Bailey we know about from his winning turn on Strictly and before – he’s funny and watchable in any context. Like the Punk Museum here, where he picked up a guitar and instantly came up with a potential future number one about Santa smashing the system.
As for Lycett, the new main man, well, I’d only seen him on The Great British Sewing Bee and a few panel shows before, so I arrived unconvinced. In fact, however, he was winningly self-deprecating (“I’m a low-budget Julian Clary”) and, most importantly, played off Bailey to perfection.
They were like a wry Eric and Ernie chatting aimiably away, with some aesthetically pleasing point of interests for backdrop. On this evidence Travel Man, the travel show that’s got very little to do with travel, looks all set to fly again. Restrictions permitting, of course.
