BILLY CONNOLLY'S ROUTE 66

UK | ITV 1 | 4 x 60 minute episodes | AIRDATES: From Thursday 15 September 2011 @ 9.00pm

Billy Connolly tackles one of the USA’s most iconic highways in this four part travelogue series – Route 66. Accompanied by a soundtrack of some of the best American music of the 20th century and riding his Harley-Davidson trike and with his banjo close at hand, the Big Yin will be following a lifelong dream as he makes the 2,488-mile journey from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Along the way, he will meet disciples of Route 66, from seasoned ‘roadies’ to first-timers living the dream. Anything can happen to him on the way – from swapping his Harley saddle for a horse saddle in Texas to riding out with the CHiPs (the California Highway Patrol).

He begins his journey in Chicago, where he heads to the top of America’s tallest building, discovers one of Al Capone’s most notorious speakeasies and attends a gospel service in the suburb where rock and roll was born. Leaving the city behind, Billy visits the home of Abraham Lincoln, meets Illinois’s champion pie-maker and encounters a 20-foot tall roadside giant. Finally, he heads into Amish country, where he takes the reins for a horse-drawn buggy ride.