Television series
Joanna Lumley's Japan
- Treasure hunt
- Light-hearted
Joanna Lumley travels Japan's far reaches with infectious curiosity, from icy northern seas to subtropical islands. She moves beyond Tokyo's gleaming surface to find elderly craftspeople, remote villages, and the country's stranger corners. It's a masterclass in the travel documentary as character study—Lumley's warmth and genuine interest transform every encounter into something alive and human.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy a host who treats a journey as a chance for mischief and warm company, and you like travel programmes that wander into small villages and odd corners rather than ticking off famous sights.
Skip it if you want hard information or a brisk itinerary, since this leans on a celebrity's personal enthusiasm and asides more than on dense detail about the places visited.
What it asks of you: Three hour-long episodes, unhurried and conversational, with long stretches of gentle travel and easy chat; it asks for patience with a relaxed pace rather than close attention.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
A Place in France...
Lumley buys a cottage and explores the Pyrenees with the same unhurried attention she brings to Japan. Structured less as travelogue than as meditation on finding home, with excellent food and genuine locals.
But Very gentle pacing—if you want incident and drama, you'll drift. Quite a lot of Lumley reading cookbooks in the kitchen.
Departures2008
Lembit Öpik and Gabby Youngs cycle through Central Asia. The same principle—unhurried, curious, interested in daily life rather than postcards. Real encounters, no script.
But Physically gruelling and the focus is more on the ride itself. Less about place, more about endurance.
Around the World in 80 Days2021
Michael Palin's Monty Python background means he's funny and self-aware while being genuinely interested in the places he visits. Beautifully shot journey across continents with real time to sit and listen.
But Paced for 1989 television, so episodes meander. The nostalgia is part of the appeal, not for everyone.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Joanna Lumley's Japan
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Death of Yugoslavia1995
Both are built on the belief that understanding a place means listening to people talk about it, not voiceover expertise.
A documentary series where inhabitants of a nation speak about its dissolution. Not a travel show—it's closer to oral history. What connects it: the refusal to simplify, the attention to how people actually live inside history, the faith that listening is enough.
But Extremely heavy subject matter and genuinely difficult to watch. No comfort, no resolution. Requires emotional stamina.
More like this (3)
Long Way Down2007
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman ride from Scotland to South Africa. Not a travel show exactly, but genuinely moved by encounters and surprisingly thoughtful about the places they pass through.
But Motorbike-focused and sometimes more about the riders' logistics than the landscape. More adventure than anthropology.
In the Mood for Love2000
Like Lumley, it finds profound beauty in ordinary Japanese/East Asian domestic life. But where she observes warmly, this film finds melancholy in the same corners.
Wong Kar-wai's Hong Kong film is more mood than plot—two neighbours fall in love in confined spaces. Shot with hypnotic beauty, each frame could hang in a gallery. Utterly about place as emotional landscape.
But Deliberately slow and remote. Barely any dialogue. The beauty can feel impenetrable if you're not in the right headspace.
The Ascent1977
Both find the sacred in landscape and ordinary people. Lumley's warmth versus Tarkovsky's austerity, but the same faith that a place reveals itself through attention and time.
Andrei Tarkovsky's film about two Soviet partisans in occupied Belarus. Allegorical, hypnotic, shot in brutally beautiful black-and-white. Explores faith, homeland, and endurance through landscape and silence rather than words.
But A Tarkovsky film—so three hours of mostly quiet contemplation. Demands patience and offers no plot resolution. Not what most people mean by entertainment.
