Episodes
Sahara with Michael Palin: Dire Straits (BBC Four Saturday 13 May 2023)
Sahara with Michael Palin: Dire Straits airs Saturday 13 May 2023 on BBC Four.
Follow Michael Palin’s journey across the Sahara Desert in this docuseries. Michael reaches the most desolate border crossing between Niger and Algeria, turns north and travels through the Hoggar massif mountains before stopping in the central Algerian oil and gas fields. Turning west along the north coast, they pass by the deserted classical sites of Apollonia, Cyrene, and Leptis Magna before arriving in Libya for the final reunion of the Desert Rats of Tobruk.
Michael enters Tunisia and revisits the location where The Life of Brian was shot in Monastir before catching the Maghreb Express to the dangerous city of Algiers and continuing on to Oran, the second largest city in Algeria via the west.
Before heading back to Gibraltar, Michael meets with potential immigrants in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on Morocco’s coast. Along the way, he finds out about the tragic end that many Saharans who attempt the eight-mile crossing have met with.
Season finale.
Episode 4 of 4
Sahara with Michael Palin: Dire Straits airs Saturday 13 May 2023 at 7.00pm on BBC Four
Featured Image Credit: BBC Four