Synopsis:

The complete collection, containing all the documentaries that Michael Palin has made under the BBC. The following documentaries feature on the collection. Around the World in 80 Days: Michael Palin takes up the famous challenge. Air travel is forbidden, and wherever possible he uses the same routes and transport as Jules Verne's fictional hero, meeting many interesting characters en route. As he races across continents and against the clock, Michael's charm and ingenuity delights the armchair traveller. Pole to Pole: Michael Palin's second televised challenge is to travel from the North to the South Pole, by land and sea. The crossing is varied and frequently gruelling, passing through Russia just days before the abortive Gorbachev coup, then on through Turkey, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa, hopefully arriving in time to catch the only ship from Africa to Antarctica! Full Circle: In Full Circle, Michael Palin sets off from Diomede, in the Bering Strait, and hopes to return there one year later via Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and the whole length of the Americas. But right from the start things don't go to plan... Sahara: Michael Palin's lust for travel is as strong as it was when he went around the world in 80 days, from Pole to Pole and then Full Circle. His latest objective is one of the great challenges in world travel: crossing the Sahara Desert... Himalaya: In his most challenging journey yet, Michael Palin tackles the Himalayas: the greatest mountain range on earth, a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to south-west China. Hemmingway Adventure: Palin journeys to Valencia in Spain, following in the footsteps of his favourite author, Ernest Hemmingway. Great Railway Journey: Derry or Londonderry, depending on religion or which part of Ireland you're from, is the starting point of Michael Palin's Great Irish Railway Journey. A journey which will take him from this ancient walled city to the most Western tip of Ireland. But it is far more than a sightseeing tour for veteran traveller Michael Palin. It is a quest for family roots, an attempt to trace his great grandmother - Brita Gallagher - who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the potato famine, bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey, USA. It is a trip along the Palin family line.