Charley Boorman, currently appearing in Long Way Down on SBS, has completed a new six part travel series which sees him visit Australia.
Produced for National Geographic, By Any Means sees Boorman navigating a 32,000-kilometre journey from Ireland to Australia using any means of transport but avoiding air travel wherever possible. So he hitches rides on trains, tuk-tuks, rickshaws, handmade boats and an elephant.
Charley says reaching Darwin was worth the wait though. “It’s got a pretty good night life. I left Darwin with a hang over.”
One of the highlights of the trip so far has been riding a camel in Alice Springs. Charley had hoped to make it in time to race in the Camel Cup but a boat trip to Darwin held him up.
His ride on the camel started well, “until the camel decided to take a U-turn and head back to the caral.”
“Charley Boorman’s infectious enthusiasm for adventure makes By Any Means a perfect fit for Nat Geo Adventure,” said National Geographic’s Sydney Suissa. “Venturing across three continents and 25 countries using 112 modes of transportation is exactly the type of off-the-beaten-path experience that viewers are looking for on the channel.”
Director Russ Malkin added, “It was very hard in places, getting stuck out at sea in Vietnam, the raging storms of Cambodia and the endless sleepless nights on enumerable trains, but it was all really worth it when we arrived in Sydney on time.”
As for Ewan McGregor, Charley says he was, “Off in America making some nice big movies…but was looking very jealous when we left, he came up to say goodbye and I could see that little twinkle in his eye.”
Love the entire series…and yes Ewans wife became a barnacle and slowed things down,but at least she had a go.
I’m in search of a T shirt from the series.Do you know where I might get one?
Adam,
It was not just Charley that was peeved at Ewan for bringing his wife – everyone who watched the show globally was pissed at his self absorbed antics.
Charley is alot funnier and alot more of an adventurer than Ewan. Plus Charley lights his farts on camera, which is pretty funny.
By Any Means was a great series, Race to Dakar was pretty good as well.
@lefty
I reckon the falling out was over Ewan’s Wife, Eve, who joined them for part of the trip and I can understand why, ruined the closeness between charley and ewan.
I get the feeling that Charley was a bit peeved about that.
long way down was safari lodge hopping at best and i think the boys had a serious falling out somewhere on the dark continent. Best part was Mcgregor being chased by the elephant that was funny.
I miss Ewan! he kept Charlie grounded, without Ewan there Charilie comes across as the pompous middle class, snobby Pom that im sure he is..not impressed with this series and I loved The “Long Way…” series, I have the books and DVD’s/.
@Chris,
I wouldn’t say it was better that Long Way Round/Down, both of those series(in particular the first one that ewan and charley did was superb).
By Any Means is excellent however!!
Great series.
Boorman is a real star.
He is alot better off without McGregor. The way Ewan went on in Long Way Down – bringing his wife along and essentially destroying the whole series yet remaining so unaware that no-one wanted her there.
Boorman is alot more interesting, funny and less of a “look at me, look at me” than McGregor.
I think it’s great, and proves Charley is equal to Ewan at carrying a show. My only problem with it is how short a time they spend in each country.
Well thar u go…. hopefully SBS next.
Watching this on whatever channel it’s on on Foxtel, great show, better than both “Long Way …” series which were already quite good.
Hi David
This has been airing on Nat Geo Adventure on Foxtel for the past four weeks – Sunday nights. Okay show, but it’s missing Ewan McGregor.
This is being shown on Nat Geo Adventure and started a few weeks ago and is also on DVD already. I guess it will be re-run on Nat Geo Adventure or the main National Geographic channel at some point as I missed the start.
I bet it will be on SBS also at some point.