Pole To Pole
Pole To Pole is a travel series on BBC4. Michael Palin undertakes an epic journey of 23,000 miles, travelling from the North to the South Pole across 17 countries with a minimum of air travel, all on a tight deadline. The program has been available since 2024. A total of 8 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in September 2024.
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Pole To Pole
Having missed his deadline to reach Antarctica, Michael abandons his original plan. Luckily a travel adventure company swoops in to save the expedition with a route through Chile.
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A Zambian witch doctor tells Michael that an 'evil shadow' is hanging over him. As bad fortune and tragedy dogs his journey to South Africa via Zimbabwe, Michael suspects it may be true.
Michael flies a hot air balloon over one of Kenya’s top game parks before heading on to Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater and taking the world’s oldest ferry to Zambia.
Running badly behind schedule and far off-course, Michael travels from Ethiopia to Kenya. En route, he encounters a lion, turns to hitchhiking and meets a hippo colony while on safari.
Civil war and poor conditions bring Michael to a near halt as he crosses Sudan, and it takes him over 24 hours to travel just 60 miles as he draws near the Ethiopian border.
July 2024
Arriving by ferry in Istanbul, Michael takes a Turkish bath before visiting Greece and Cyprus as he crosses the Mediterranean en route to Egypt, where he takes a boat up the Nile.
Michael experiences life in the latter days of the Soviet Union as he travels from Leningrad to the port of Odessa, mere days before the 1991 coup in Moscow.
Michael begins his journey with a perilous landing at the North Pole, continuing southwards with voyages across Scandinavia as he makes his way to Estonia and the Soviet Union.