Hugh Dennis & David Baddiel reunite for Channel 4 cycling travelogue
- Former members of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel, have cycled across France for a new Channel 4 travel show
- Baddiel said: "He's on a big racer with all the gear, I'm basically on my E-Bike and we're cycling across France"
- Meanwhile, Sophie Duker has highlighted the lack of travel series with female comedians, revealing that Channel 4 has not picked up her show Gullible's Travels to series
Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel are reuniting for a Channel 4 cycling travelogue.
The duo, who first worked together as part of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio and television, have just pedalled across France together, with committed cyclist Dennis on his racer and the rather less committed Baddiel on an E-Bike.
Currently untitled, the series will air next year.
Posting on social media about the trip last week, Baddiel wrote: "See if you can spot Steve Punt and Rob Newman".
And speaking on Lorraine on ITV this morning, where he was also reunited with Three Lions composer Ian Broudie, Baddiel told Lorraine Kelly: "I love [Hugh] and he asked me to cycle across France for this show for Channel 4.
"I said 'well, you're a proper cyclist, he's cycled in the Alps, he's done half of the Tour de France. I do not do that, look at me. So I said I'd do it on my E-Bike.
"He's on a big racer with all the gear, I'm basically looking like this on my E-Bike and we're cycling across France. I just came back yesterday."
The series is being produced by Strawberry Blonde, who previously made The Great British Dig for Channel 4, fronted by Dennis.
Appearing on Lorraine to promote his latest book for children, Small Fry, Baddiel added that he'd been left relatively unscathed from making the travel show, which he called "a real laugh".
"Mainly, my bottom is alright" he said. "I didn't know this, because basically I've only ever cycled into town from my house, which is not a long way, the thing that hurts is not your legs but your bum."
The Mary Whitehouse Experience launched the careers of comedy duos Punt & Dennis and Newman & Baddiel, with the original Radio 1 incarnation first airing in 1989 and featuring Jo Brand, Mark Thomas, Jack Dee, Nick Hancock and Mark Hurst.
Subsequently transferring to BBC Two, the sketch show ran for two series between 1990 and 1992, before the two duos split. Outnumbered star Dennis and Baddiel later reunited for a 2012 episode of World's Most Dangerous Roads on BBC Two (pictured top) in which they drove across Ethiopia.
Earlier this week it was announced that another iconic comedy duo, Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey, would also be appearing in a French travelogue together, with the Men Behaving Badly duo reuniting for Neil & Martin's Bon Voyage on Gold, with Morrissey introducing the country that he considers his second home to his erstwhile co-star.
Channel 4 previously made the interview show Along For The Ride With David O'Doherty in 2021, in which the Irish stand-up spoke to comedians Joe Wilkinson, Mel Giedroyc and Richard Ayoade, as well as artist Grayson Perry, as they cycled.
Also this week, Sophie Duker has lamented the lack of female comedians being commissioned to make travel shows.
As British Comedy Guide revealed last year, Duker shot the pilot Gullible's Travels for Channel 4 in Finland with Maisie Adam, Olga Koch and Catherine Bohart.
Speaking in an interview for the ticketing website Tickemaster, she revealed that the broadcaster has not picked the show up for series.
"In the last decade in television, there's been a real trend of dudes going places, possibly with a family member. I worked on a travelogue with some other incredible comedians - Maisie Adam, Catherine Bohart, Olga Koch, who I love. We made a show that, to this day, I think was phenomenal. It was so funny. Everything was super smooth. No one got sexually harassed on set. Everyone was on time. Everything was really fun, and that show didn't end up getting commissioned. I just think that people don't believe people will watch women."
She added: "But that show - we still have a WhatsApp group about it with the producer and the director, who were both women, and we always wonder, "Why didn't this get made?" Having a production that's super big budget, super mainstream, and just happens to have a creative team or front of camera team that isn't men, without it being a 'woman show', is something that is still really lacking in television. When I was part of one, it was genuinely one of the strongest pieces of content programming that I've ever worked on, and yet it didn't get made."