Paul Merton in China (Episode 1)

DVD, Paul Merton in China (Episode 1)

Michael Palin has a lot to answer for, I have to feel, and in the positive sense, because his brand of Englishman abroad proved very successful over the years. Perhaps there have been many imitators, but I've never seen anyone quite like him and his open, adventurous style. And Paul Merton didn't change that. What he did was the same, but different: a very English Englishman, but one who, unlike Palin, was naturally unadventurous, and so his brand of travel documenting is almost the anti-Palin in terms of how he approaches the daily challenges and differences of the people he meets. But he's also a born performer and seems to enjoy the weird and the wonderful, and if he shows a lack of desire to get involved sometimes, that only adds to the charm of the series. He stands out even more than Palin, being larger than most Chinese people, but quite gregarious and game until he has to step outside what is comfortable, despite being "contractually obliged to be brave." So you can sense there's going to be a little friction along the way, which fits perfectly into the Chinese dichotomy, such a different culture to the British, yet both sharing a common ground of eccentricity. While the Chinese variety can sometimes be slightly chilling or creepy, it throws up all kinds of characters for Paul to bounce off, leading to some fascinating encounters, the most enduring in this first episode being the sight of a robot rickshaw from a man that invents robots of all sizes, though whether it's a career or a hobby is unexplained.

The vast differences between traditional and modern China in both values and expression is another draw. The series came out in 2007 on Channel 5, so a year before the Beijing Olympics, the perfect time to explore what makes this vast nation tick. It would be fascinating if he went back there now, ten years later, to see what the effects of all that construction and planning had had on the communities. It was a very interesting time in the country's history and its attitudes say a lot about it. The extremes are what a TV series is going to highlight, that's just good TV, but you don't get much more opposite than the shanty-like dwellings Paul visits to see where an American called Mike (who teaches English), lives, and the epic scale of a new hotel built in the style of a 17th Century grand palace! On the one hand you have the maze-like, close-knit conglomeration of one- or two-room houses the poorer folk call home, then the huge, but largely empty and cavernous spaces of the hotel, where cupboards are about the same size as the poor's rooms, and cupboards lead to smaller cupboards within!

The cuisine is something you need to be daring to attempt, and understandably, Paul is less than enthusiastic about the delicacies he's shown, and in some cases, tries. It seems to be that old China is less about wrapping things up nice and shiny, while modern China is exactly that, appearance more important, readying for the world stage. I suppose you can't really compare food to architecture, but it does point up the uneasy pull between two attitudes. Or perhaps it's just the uneasiness engendered by the government, in which officials are made uncomfortable by a Western film crew's presence, refusing to answer questions, even finding alternative transport rather than share the same tour bus. The inability for Chinese people to say whatever they want, held back probably by both a desire for their home to be recognised as a great place, but also by the uncertainty over how the authorities will react, reminds us that Paul is not in a traditionally free country in the way we understand it, but that only makes his encounters with all kinds of people more fascinating. He remains very polite, though, like Palin, doesn't mind making up silliness as he goes to get him through, and it is delightful. I do wonder how much was staged and how much planned, both by the government and by the production, as it doesn't seem quite as off the cuff as the Palin docs did, but at least his interpreter, Chinese girl Emma, is more moderate and Westernised in her approach, I sense.

Merton went on to make two or three other travel series' in this line as I recall ('Paul Merton in India,' 'Paul Merton in Europe,' I think, and some one-off visits to places), but none of them were as well-observed, or as engaging, as this one. It must have been the ideal time to examine a country that was in such a state of flux as it prepared for the world stage like never before, at a time when Western culture had been admitted (we witness Chinese youths performing hip hop on the streets, though it never gets more controversial than the subject of food!), capitalism becoming rampant, and the economic giant stirring into the superpower it is still becoming. Modern history has always held an interest, but it's strange to think we're living through such monumental times, and a documentary such as this one only amplifies that impression. Paul's genial bumbling and unwillingness to go too far, but just enough to be uncomfortable for him, makes for good viewing, and this is just the start to make you want to see more.

***