The Trip

Best TV of 2014: No 5 - The Trip to Italy

Was the Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon vehicle a travelogue, a comedy, a food show, scripted reality, or something else entirely? Or was it simply as good as television gets?

Video: Sir Michael Caine talks about being on The Trip

Michael Caine mimics his many impersonators and talks about how his voice has changed over the years.

Rob Brydon: 'Michael Caine loves my impression'

Rob Brydon has said that Sir Michael Caine enjoyed being impersonated by the Welsh comedian and Steve Coogan in The Trip.

The Trip is such a pleasure to look at - from the meals to the wine and the sweeping Italian vistas - that it's easy to forget just how unusual an idea it is. Part improvised comedy, part foodie travelogue, all built around the testy charms of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing heightened versions of themselves, outdoing each other with impressions of Michael Caine and Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight, or Parky. They've redefined the idea of what a half-hour sitcom can be, with non-stop gags, and just a hint of drama around the edges - Coogan's son, Brydon's dalliances - to add a touch of pathos in the Italian sunshine.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon Q&A report

The Q&A, screened live to over 180 cinemas across the UK, saw the pair talk about their Mediterranean jaunt, re-uniting with Michael Winterbottom, their relationship on and off set, growing old gracefully and more.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon to host live Q&A in cinemas

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are to host a live Q&A at cinemas across the UK on Wednesday after a feature-length screening of their BBC comedy series, The Trip To Italy.

The Trip to Italy: A Popular Postmodernism

"Did you ever hear of a good sequel?" asks Rob Brydon, in the postmodern improvisational joy that is The Trip to Italy.

The last leg of Steve and Rob's passive-aggressive perambulation through Italy takes them to Capri's Il Riccio. Meeting with Coogan's son Joe and all-round fixer Emma, Rob breaks the news of his burgeoning film career with confirmation of a leading role in Michael Mann's latest opus. Conversely, Steve reveals plans to settle closer to home. Changes are afoot then, but curiously there's little sense of closure here. Could a tertiary Trip be beckoning?

Radio Times review

The unlikely but lovable sitcom winds up its second series in reflective mood. There are more smiles than belly laughs as Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan's Italian travels reach Naples and they are joined by Steve's son Joe and his pregnant PA Emma.

But before the others arrive, Steve and Rob have a moment at some catacombs stacked with skulls ("It's like being at one of your gigs..."). Steve trots out the "Alas poor Yorick" speech from Hamlet and the references to a dead jester ("Where be your gibes now...?") leave Rob looking distinctly troubled.

As usual, on the surface The Trip is about seafood, wine and Roger Moore impressions; underneath it's something else altogether.

The Trip to Italy: worth the return journey?

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's food-fuelled journey through Italy has an undercurrent of despair beneath the impressions. Would you join the pair on future trips?