Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon Return In ‘The Trip To Spain’ On Sky Atlantic
After northern England and Italy, director Michael Winterbottom brings the BAFTA Award-nominated ‘The Trip’ series to Sky Atlantic, reuniting Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on a culinary coast-to-coast odyssey, as they embark on The Trip To Spain.
Just as Don Quixote undertook three journeys, so Steve and Rob will set off on a third jaunt of their own, this time travelling over 1,000 miles down the entire length of Spain. Following in the footsteps of poet and novelist Laurie Lee, Steve and Rob’s semi-fictional alter-egos hit the road in search of culture, history, breathtaking vistas and, of course, some of the finest food in Europe. All the while serving up sparkling, free-flowing conversation, peppered with barbed back-and-forths, in-car singalongs and their peerless trademark impersonations.
The pair also reflect on life; as two gentlemen just entering their 50s, they contemplate love, family, respective successes thus far (Steve was nominated for an Academy Award for Philomena, you know) and what lies beyond. The result is a poignant but always convivial pilgrimage of self discovery and the pursuit of the perfect Mick Jagger impersonation.
When asked about their decision to do a third series, it was an apparently an easy choice. “No arms needed to be twisted,” comments Brydon. “I like the fact that there’s a decent length of time in between each series so that we look older and perhaps a little more battered. I think that on its own is interesting.” Coogan adds “Rob and I already have a modus operandi. We’ve done it twice before, we all enjoyed doing it and we knew how to do it so it was a very easy decision.”
Director Michael Winterbottom also explained the decision to chose Spain over other destinations. “I like Spain.” remarks Winterbottom. “I thought the landscape would be good, I thought the food would be good. I also think the whole Don Quixote and Sancho Panza story, the most famous story from Spain, sort of fitted Steve and Rob well. In the first series we had the Lake Poets, in the second we had Byron and Shelley, so we have these cultural references throughout. So that contributed. But also I was wondering, – if I was going to go backwards and forwards between countries, where would I want to go? – And I thought: Spain.”
The show will start in Santander, passing through the historic ruins of the Basque town of Hondarribia, then Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña, on to Sigüenza, and the La Mancha region south of Madrid, before ending in Málaga.
You can see Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in The Trip To Spain when it lands on Sky Atlantic on the 6th of April at 10pm. The entire series will also be available to watch at once with Sky Box Sets on the same day.
