Two Men in China
ABC1
Tuesday 8.30pm
THEY have been along the Murray Darling and the Great Divide and up to the Top End but now John Doyle and Tim Flannery have left the country.
Their new three-part series, Two Men in China, begins on Tuesday 13 May and it’s definitely worth a look.
The dynamic duo show China in a whole different light to other programs.
Part travelogue, part social commentary and part comedy – Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year this ain’t.
I love the idea of two smart men investigating a country that we all think we know but probably don’t. Of course, being Tim Flannery – there is talk about global warming but while we see the things that China is doing wrong we also see what it is doing right.
The nice thing about this show is that here are two very inquisitive minds with great senses of humour taking a new look at an old country.
The three part series focuses on three different cities – the capital Beijing, the decadent Shanghai and the booming western frontier of Chengdu.
Each city has its own flavour and style.
In the first episode, we see the many facets of Beijing – the old and the new – the industrial and the traditional.
We look inside the traditional house of a rickshaw driver and the flat of expat Aussies (with air filtered systems for the dangerous pollution).
We start with mountains of Australian iron ore arriving in Beijing and end drinking wine atop the Great Wall.
In between the pair take us to see art, robots made of junk and a restaurant that only sells… well you will have to see for yourselves.
– Tania Phillips
