Review: Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland was just another clapped-out addition to the motorhome mayhem on our screens

Lockdown has been blamed for many things – childhood obesity, a rise in mental health issues, business failures – but the main thing is an unacceptable increase in the number of TV shows based around caravans and motorhomes.
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Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland (Channel 4, Tues, 9.15pm) was this week’s addition to the genre, joining a nose-to-tail traffic jam with Celebrity 5 Go Motorhoming, Motorhoming with Merton and Webster and Caravanning with Shane Richie.

The thing with all these shows, apart from sounding like the kind of programme Alan Partridge rejected before pitching Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank, is that they can be managed in a Covid-compliant way.

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When our celebrity tow-bar botherers aren’t taking in the fresh air of the great British outdoors, they can travel in their very own Covid bubble on wheels.

Alan Cumming and Miriam Margoyles were Lost in Scotland in a new Channel 4 travelogue this weekAlan Cumming and Miriam Margoyles were Lost in Scotland in a new Channel 4 travelogue this week
Alan Cumming and Miriam Margoyles were Lost in Scotland in a new Channel 4 travelogue this week

In this case it was Scottish actor Alan Cumming and renowned swearer Miriam Margoyles, off on a jaunt north of the border to “reconnect with their Scottish roots”.

It was all very jaunty and fun, but you got the impression that while it might initially be a laugh to hear Margoyles – who looks like a cuddly, snowy-haired grandma – swear like a Clydeside docker, the novelty would soon wear off.

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It was a really affecting few minutes, but you suspect it was a highlight in a routine tartan travelogue, and frankly I can’t wait for this Covid carnival of caravans to run out of diesel.

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The remake of Dalgliesh (C5, Thurs/Fri, 9pm) is one of the better book-to-screen adaptations, going back to the novels’ 70 settings, with Bertie Carvel excellent as PD James’ dour, cerebral detective.

I’ve been waiting for some good stuff to arrive on Disney's streaming service, and now it has. Dopesick (Disney+, new episodes Wednesdays), about the opioid crisis in the US, is terrific.

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