The Trip (TV)

Sadly one of my favourite television programmes of 2010 is not longer on BBC iplayer, but if you haven't already you should figure out a way of seeing it.  The Trip is a six part series following Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on a restaurant tour of the North, as Coogan attempts to review various establishments for the Observer Magazine.  Whilst undertaking the journey the two pass the time mostly through competitive mimicry and piss taking.  The two actors each play a distorted version of themselves, as previously seen in the 2005 film A Cock and Bull Story.  Of course, The Trip is very funny.  It has to be, it's got Steve Coogan in it. The poor lad lives under the shadow of Alan Partridge, but since those hilarious times he has continued to make good television, and The Trip is no exception.


But it's so much more than funny.  It moves between comedy and drama seamlessly whilst also having a documentary feel about it, thanks to Director Michael Winterbottom's inspired camera work.  The drama element comes chiefly from Coogan's failing relationship with his girlfriend, but also from a comparison which is created between the two characters.  Coogan is a frustrated, unhappy person, who as a result is at times quite unpleasant.  Brydon, by comparison, is content with his lot in life.  The interactions between the two are as far as I can gather unscripted, and the result is something that feels very real whilst still being amusing.


The countryside of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales is shot beautifully, and it was particularly pleasing on the eye when Long Views of bleak, beautiful hills featured nothing but Coogan's massive Range Rover, dwarfed by its surroundings.  Winterbottom employed various camera angles including one from the bonnet of the car, and generally the camera work in the series makes it more visually interesting than it has any right to be.


There's no getting away from it though, there are a lot of impressions.  They take up most of the screen time.  Happily, most of them are really funny.  I particularly enjoy Brydon's Al Pacino, and when Brydon takes it too far and you think, 'OK that's enough now', these thoughts are usually echoed by Coogan on screen.


The Trip is the product of two people (Coogan and Winterbottom) not being afraid to do something a bit risky.  I've read up a bit on how the show was received, and some people just don't get it.  Generally though I think the critics liked it, and so did the majority of those viewers who wrote their thoughts down in online forums.  I personally love the way that The Trip plays with genre boundaries.  When all a comedy programme attempts to do is make you laugh, and fails at it, you're disappointed.  The real gems are the ones that do a little something else as well, so then if you don't laugh, you have something else to appreciate.