The Trip

Radio Times review

The comic riffs and bickering are lower-key this week. We start with Rob Brydon waking up in bed next to the blonde girl from the last episode, the one on the yacht, and we gather from the expletives he's not best pleased with himself. Perhaps that helps things take a mournful turn, as he and travelling companion Steve Coogan reflect on Shelley's funeral pyre and death generally.

In one of his extended flights of fancy, Rob imagines Steve on his deathbed, so incapacitated he can't even grope his attractive nurse. As if to retaliate (and there's a lot of that) Steve later reflects on his "semi-justified reputation for being something of a lothario".

But over and above the nicely observed riffs on ageing and celebrity there are, of course, the impressions: this week Steve reads the guide book as first James Mason and then, brilliantly, Neil Kinnock. Plus, "Roger Moore sings the very best of Alanis Morissette".

The second series of The Trip sends Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan around Italy in the footsteps of Byron and Shelley - albeit travelling by open-top Mini Cooper and luxury sailing ship crewed by shapely, twentysomething posh girls - for more semi-improvised adventures as would-be food critics.

Once I had wiped away the mist of envy from my eyes and choked back the bile of resentment that invariably rises whenever I see the licence fee used to send celebrities to exotic locations, I rather enjoyed The Trip to Italy. The concept is inherently self-indulgent, but the two stars are undeniably good company, and there is something pleasantly relaxing about the gentle pace at which it plays out.

There are moments of high comedy, as the pair play versions of themselves as incorrigible impressionist show-offs - if you ever wanted to know what Roger Moore playing Tony Blair interrogating Saddam Hussein as Frank Spencer would sound like, this is the show for you. But there are also beautifully observed exchanges from two performers far too skilled at improvisation ever to push too hard for a laugh. As a result, their onscreen comic chemistry comes over as spontaneous, authentic and rather touching.

Ostensibly writing a food column for the Observer, Brydon and Coogan travel, banter, bicker, dine, drink and trade impersonations on an endless, unhurried loop. The format hasn't changed at all from the first series, but the weather certainly has, and so has the menu. Italy, and its food, looks glorious. If, at any point, you should tire of Messrs Brydon and Coogan's babblings, you can always try watching the programme with the sound off.

In The Trip to Italy, Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan took their competitive impersonation skills to a new level when one of them impersonated Saddam Hussein impersonating Frank Spencer, and the other impersonated Roger Moore impersonating Tony Blair.

I lost track of who was which, but it was virtuoso stuff. Meanwhile they were eating the greatest of Italian food while surrounded with British upmarket honey-blonde chalet girls.

More mature by the episode, Steve retired to bed alone for a nap. Rob pulled one of the girls but might have dished his chances by showing her a picture of his daughter. By now the chaps are so well established in their characters that they can do uncharacteristic things. I have seldom seen a British comedy series quite so inventive.

Rob Brydon interview

"I showed that to Anthony Hopkins, me impersonating him, when I was in LA recently and it was bizarre to see him watching it on a laptop and laughing away."

For all its obvious charms, the first run of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's improvised sitcom did sometimes seem like little more than a Parmesan-crisp thin excuse for its stars to gorge on high-end scran. Credit all the Mediterranean cuisine being scarfed down or just tighter direction from Michael Winterbottom, but this sequel outing to Italy feels more substantial. Tonight's episode features a plot, with the pair venturing to Shelley's house by boat, and Brydon chirpsing one of the crew. Impressions galore - Tom Jones, Pierce Brosnan - too.

Radio Times review

It's pure pleasure, this. Something so seemingly simple really shouldn't work as well at it does, but boy is it funny. Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan - or the versions they play of themselves - have reached San Fruttuoso in Liguria on their tour of Italy.

They take a beautiful yacht to a restaurant on a pebbled cove where, over lunch, they do impressions. Quite why two men doing silly voices filmed with the production values of an arthouse movie is so funny, Lord knows.

There's Steve doing Saddam Hussein's Frank Spencer impression or Rob doing Roger Moore playing Tony Blair. There's a lovely bit about what the different intonations that newsreaders use mean.

But underneath the comedy back-and-forth there's a poignant undertow about middle-aged friendship and the status games men play. It's cleverly done and not quite like anything else, ever.

What The Trip To Italy tells us about male friendship

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's gently competitive riffs and references highlight the changing composition of modern male relationships.

On location: 'The Trip to Italy'

In Camogli, Brydon and Coogan stayed at the seafront Cenobio dei Dogi, which has elegant bedrooms and access to a private beach (doubles from €190).

What I like about The Trip is that it works on so many levels, whether it be two men trying to deal with the ageing process or just a couple of funny chaps trying to one up each other with their impressions. Indeed it is the impressions scenes that people will remember with the first episode's take on The Dark Knight Rises, and in particular Bane, being a personal highlight. But I was equally involved in the discussions regarding Brydon and Coogan's personal life and the fact that the latter doesn't get the attention from pretty girls in the way he once did.

While the first series built up to a very fine performance of The Winner Takes it All this series looks to see the comic duo tackle the work of Alanis Morissette at some point. Long-time friends Coogan and Brydon bounce off each other perfectly in the lead roles as they play exaggerated versions of themselves.

As I did with the first series, I wonder how much of their real characteristics they bring to their roles in The Trip. Director Michael Winterbottom makes the whole series a cut above a regular sitcom with the cinematography really capturing all that the Italian scenery has to offer. Whether the story can be stretched over another six episodes remains to be seen but, for now at least, The Trip to Italy looks to be as funny and poignant as its predecessor was.

Rob Brydon: comedy, politics & dining with Steve Coogan

Lazy criticism, women on comedy panel shows and intimations of mortality... As he chews the fat with Steve Coogan in another series of The Trip, the new prince of Saturday-night TV confesses that he has a lot on his plate.