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Received 10th September 2007
Sweet Sixteen
Exactly sixteen months after setting out on the first day of the first filming trip of our twenty-two week New Europe shoot, the results of our labours will hit the screens on BBC1 at 9
o'clock on Sunday 16th September. So, for any numerologists out there, sixteen is the number for New Europe.
A lot of behind-the-scenes work is going on at the moment as the finishing touches are put to the shows, and
the series is handed over from the filming crew to the post-production team. Alex Richardson, our superhuman editor and Birmingham City supporter, has to complete the final edits - around 58 minutes per show for BBC1 and a
shorter version for foreign sales. BBC1 gives us a nearly full hour, but there are very few television channels out there who don't want it chopped down for commercial breaks, promotional stuff etc. Which makes the DVD - with
full-length shows, plus sequences we just didn't have space to squeeze in - such great VALUE. End of plug.
I have been writing and recording commentary. Each show has around two and a half thousand words of narration,
and for me it's a very important part of the process, requiring a mix of tight, reduced information and a bit of fun as well. I like to try and make each episode into a story of its own and make sure the commentary captures the
excitement of the filming. I still have commentary for Episode Seven left to record, after which my creative input into the series is over.
The commentary then goes into the general sound mix put together by Alex and
Dubbing Mixer George Foulgham and his team. The music is added and the richness of our recordist John Pritchard's sound tracks are revealed as the various sounds of New Europe are balanced with words and music.
Then
that's it. Sue Grant, our production manager, along with assistant Michelle Hanley, tie up all the paperwork and the finished product goes off to the BBC, and we all feel rather lost.
For me, the publicity now takes
over. The book of New Europe is published on Thursday, so there's TV and book promotion to be done.
I don't mind doing it. It's part of the job, and book signings are about the only chance I have to meet the audience -
hoping there will be one !
I hope that the incredibly concentrated work everyone has put in these past sixteen months (and for the directors even longer than that) produces something that you'll find interesting,
entertaining, sometimes riveting and always good to look at. New Europe has been an eye-opener for me, and I hope that it will be for you too. These countries that have seemed so grey and indistinct are shown for what they
really are, full of life, colour, great people and lots of energy and hope for the future. I'm just sorry, that even in seven episodes, we haven't had time to do justice to every one of the twenty countries we passed through,
but those that don't get much on-screen time are in the book and on the DVD.
I've just come back from a week's publicity for my Diaries 1969-1979 in the States, and must thank anyone who came to the signings or talks in
New York, Boston and Philadelphia. You were great audiences. Many of you had seen the travel series, but the fact remains that they've never been given the level of exposure on US television that they have here, and as they
keep appearing on different cable channels, it's been difficult to build up an audience.
Our latest home is the Travel Channel, but at the time of writing I've heard no word on when they plan to screen New Europe. Any
feedback from US fans would be very welcome !
So, now I'm off to bite my nails and hope for the best on Sunday the sixteenth !
Talk soon,
Michael
Received 14th June 2007
Breaking News
Michael has broken a small blue Chinese vase which he used to keep his pencils in.
Filming on his new series wrapped up in Germany on May 4th. The title is now confirmed as
Michael Palin's New Europe.
The accompanying book is almost complete and goes on press (in Trento in Italy) at the end of June.
The series, which looks likely to be seven episodes, is currently being edited in
London, for screening in the autumn.
We'll be keeping you up-to-date with all the latest on the new series but, until then, all the best.
The Palin's Travels Team
Received 8th May 2006
Where Next ?
It's been far too long since the last message, but I'm pleased that the site goes on regardless and there are plenty of issues raised and travellers talking to each other without my getting in
the way !
Truth is that I haven't been doing much travelling myself over the last few months as I've been working on a volume of my diaries, covering the period 1969 to 1979, which are to be published in October this
year, and purely coincidentally, around about the time that Eric Idle's Spamalot, based on Monty Python And The Holy Grail (book now!) opens in the West End of London. I've also briefly revived my acting career, playing the
Narrator in Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls for Radio 4's classic serial. (Part One went out Saturday 29th April at 9 o'clock and Part Two on Saturday 6th May). It should be available online on the BBC Website. And you can also hear
my dulcet tones in Simon Gray's Quartermaine's Terms, on Saturday 17th June, also Radio 4.
Now back to the important stuff. In mid-May I and the regular crew from Himalaya and Sahara will be embarking on a new journey,
planning to make 6 one-hour programmes for BBC-1 on what we are currently calling "Palin's New Europe" - I've always disliked having my name above the geographical title but for the moment it distinguishes my new
Europe from Donald Rumsfeld's New Europe or Keira Knightley's New Europe or Wayne Rooney's non-Europe.
So what is Palin's New Europe ? At the moment it is a combination of twenty-one countries all of which were once in
the Soviet bloc and are now either part of or about to be part of the EU, as well as countries like Turkey which are considering applying to join the EU. We shall visit many countries, like Bosnia, Albania, Moldova and
Macedonia, of which we may know the names and not the detail.
The idea is to look at the way people live now in countries which will all be part of the EU over the next few years - hence the New Europe in the title.
Many of these countries didn't exist when I was born (63 years ago this May 5th !) and those that did exist have been through difficult times. I hope that the series will reflect an optimism about the new Europe, but we shall
show whatever we get.
I'm looking forward very much to learning something about my own continent. We shall try to get off the beaten track and to convey some of the beauty of the remote, unspoilt parts of Europe, whilst
never being more than three hours' flying time away from my new grandson, Archie, born on St Patrick's Day (March 17th) this year - and the most beautiful boy you could ever wish to see (apart from all the others!).
The
itinerary for our journey will be constantly changing and forgive me if I don't give away anything more about the series until we're decided on exactly what's going to be in it, otherwise we might raise false hopes and give a
few wrong impressions. I hope you'll appreciate if I go a little quiet whilst we do the filming. Much of what we shoot will be spontaneous, so I can't even tell you what we're doing ! But I'll definitely tell you what I can
whenever I can. I know that sounds like a real politicians answer !
What I can tell you is that there will be a book to go with the journey (Basil Pao is sharpening his cameras even as we speak) and that it will come
out, along with the TV series, in the autumn of next year, 2007.
I hope you regular and faithful followers of the Website will be making plans for more travels yourselves. There's much talk these days about the cost to
the environment of our insatiable urge to move around. My view is that until the aeroplane is dis-invented then we should continue to use it to learn more about our world. But you know my personal view by now. Simply flying to
a resort which looks just like home and learning and absorbing nothing of the country you're in IS a waste, not only of the world's resources, but also your own brain. Please travel but use this precious privilege (available
only to a tiny minority in the world) to try and understand, appreciate, value and enjoy how other people live. Only in this way can we who love travel, go some way to reducing the well of anger and resentment which motivates
those few, but influential people, who don't want us to get to know each other.
End of sermon. I must go and get the second of my anti tick-borne encephalitis jabs. Apparently the little bastards, sorry, our dear sweet
little brother and sister ticks, are lurking in the forests of Central Europe, along with the boars, the bears, the vampires waiting to bite my bits.
Happy travels ! Look and learn !
Michael
Received 11th November 2005
Feet Beginning To Itch Again. A new message from Michael.
Rumours are already out concerning a new travel series. Although we're in only preparatory stages of early preparation which, if
successful, could lead to full-time preparations for the preparation of a series, I'd hate to think you have to rely on the Daily Express for news of my travel plans, so here goes.
The BBC are very keen to do another
series. The crew, though ageing rapidly (some of them are almost as old as me) are very keen to do another series, and my only reservation was the that the success of Himalaya made it a hard act to follow, and there's no point
doing another series unless your heart is really in it. Whatever they say, it's mind first and body second on these big projects.
We've come up with the possible - and I repeat possible as no definite decisions have been
taken yet - idea of a journey through the New Europe. Those countries to the east that are part of our continent and yet about which we know very little. If our early researches prove fruitful we'd aim to set off on the road
again sometime next year and to produce a book and a series for the Autumn of 2007. Watch this space !
Recently I had plans to travel with Basil Pao to China and Tibet, purely as a holiday and to accompany Bas who is
taking photographs in preparation for his upcoming book on China. Those who might have read the account of my trip in the Times travel section on October 15th will know that some bronchial curse laid me low before leaving. I
did get to see the Great Wall for the first time, and the Forbidden City and the grasslands of Manchuria - oh and the giant pandas at Chengdu - but was prevented from revisiting the magnificent Tibetan plateau on the orders of
a Beijing doctor. Tibet, dusty and 4,500 metres above sea level, is probably the worst place in the world to recover from a persistent cough. A bit like going to Barbados to recover from sunburn.
So I returned home and,
apart from a great 4-day visit to user-friendly Barcelona, I've remained happily home-bound, editing the first volume of my diaries for publication next autumn. With luck I shall be in the middle of a Slovakian forest when
they're published, and out of range of any lawsuits !
One final thing. The problems of those affected by the Pakistan earthquake are actually increasing as winter makes movement from the remote mountain areas almost
impossible. Help is still needed and yet the response has been far less than that for the tsunami. These are great, tough people who would not ask for charity, but many of whom will die without it. So, if like me, you feel a
bond between yourself and the people of the Pakistan Himalaya, give now and, if you've already given, give again.
Sorry, one last thing from us Webmaster type folks. On a much lighter note. In his recent series, Michael
Palin and the Mystery of Hammershoi, Michael mentioned the "Friends of Hammershoi" and, with many people having asked about the as yet completely unofficial body, we'd like to gauge your response to such a group. If
you'd like to join, or simply read more from Michael on the topic, just go
to the Palin's Travels homepage.
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