‘INVERNESS TO THE ISLE OF SKYE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
I didn’t think this TV series would get a DVD release! 😀
In 2019, I saw ‘Great British Car Journeys’ (‘Vintage Roads Great and Small’ as it’s called in the USA), a documentary series starring Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison. Chris and Peter are well-known to ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ fans for playing James Herriot and Tristan Farnon on TV. 😀
That was in the original 1978-1990 BBC TV series compared to the latest 2020 Channel 5 TV series. I also know Peter for playing the Fifth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’, both on TV and in the Big Finish audios. It was nice to watch ‘Great British Car Journeys’ featuring Chris Timothy and Peter Davison together.
There are two seasons of ‘Great British Car Journeys’. The first season was shown in the UK on Channel 4 in February 2019 (In the USA, it was shown on Acorn TV from October to November 2018). The second season was shown in the UK on Channel 4 from October to November 2019. 🙂
I didn’t anticipate a DVD release of this series, so it came as a nice surprise when ‘Great British Car Journeys’ would be released in 2020. It took a while for the DVD to come in the post with all that was happening in 2020, but fortunately I did receive my copy of the series in September of that year.
I’ve been able to revisit ‘Great British Car Journeys’ on DVD in 2021, so here are my updated thoughts on what I make of the series compared to my initial thoughts of it in 2019. I still love ‘Great British Car Journeys’ and Chris Timothy and Peter Davison are here to make the show feel so special.
The ‘Great British Car Journeys’ DVD is a 2-disc set. Series 1 is on Disc 1 whilst Series 2 is on Disc 2. Series 1 consists of three episodes whilst Series 2 consists of four episodes. It was very exciting for my parents and me to revisit this series as Chris and Peter get to ‘relive the golden age of motoring’.
An advantage of having the TV series on DVD is that there aren’t any commercial breaks to sit through. My parents and I can watch ‘Great British Car Journeys’ without the ‘forced’ need to take a break like when we watched the episodes on Channel 4. It was a relief to discover that on the DVD. 🙂
The series begins with the first episode occurring in Scotland, or as the DVD calls it ‘Inverness to the Isle of Skye’. I’d been looking forward to this documentary series a lot after hearing so much about it! 🙂
I became aware of the series from seeing Facebook posts on the Peter Davison Hub. I saw the first episode of ‘Great British Car Journeys’ on Channel 4 on Saturday the 3rd of February. Really exciting!
I was so pleased to see the show on Channel 4 on a Saturday evening at 8 o’clock. My parents and I had just watched an episode of ‘All Creatures’ beforehand. ‘Home and Away’ as a matter of fact! 😀
It was pretty strange to watch this TV series after I had just seen Peter Davison in real-life at the ‘Science of the Time Lords’ convention in Leicester, January 2019. I had good fun meeting him then.
It was also pretty strange to see Christopher Timothy in the series since he looks very different compared to when he portrayed James Herriot in ‘All Creatures’. His voice sounds the same though.
It was amazing to see Chris Timothy and Peter Davison back together as they’ve remained life-long friends. I wondered if that was the case whilst I was watching the original ‘All Creatures’ TV series. 🙂
Anyway, ‘Great British Car Journeys’ is about Chris and Peter reliving the 1930s golden age of motoring. This was intriguing since I’m not really an expert on cars and motoring compared to them.
In each episode, Peter picks up Chris as they get behind the wheel of a Morgan 4/4 that I think belongs to Peter. 😀 Peter and Chris explore Britain’s vintage roads throughout the series itself here.
Some of the facts about 1930s cars are very new to me! I’m still amazed and baffled by how much there is to know about cars and how they operate in the 1930s compared to how they work today. 🙂
In the first episode itself, Chris and Peter take a journey in the Highlands of Scotland as they go from Fort George through into Inverness to get to the Isle of Skye. Sometimes, the journey is treacherous.
Watching this episode did bring back nostalgia for me and my parents and it still does today. We’ve been to the Highlands of Scotland for our summer holidays and we long to go to the Highlands again.
It was astonishing to discover that Chris and Peter had never been to the Highlands of Scotland before. This is especially as they drove around Loch Ness and looked out for the Loch Ness Monster.
Thankfully, no Zygons were in the vicinity. 😀 It’s also fascinating how Chris and Peter met this man who spent most of his life on the lookout for the Loch Ness Monster as it has had so many sightings.
It was very amusing when watching the episode that Peter and Chris came to a dead end once driving on an unused road during bad weather. Peter complained Chris had taken the wrong turning.
My Dad remarked that it was like when Hyacinth told Richard he’d taken the ‘wrong turning’ in the ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ 1993 Christmas Special. I couldn’t help laugh when my Dad had said that.
It was also fascinating to see Peter and Chris take a vintage three-wheel rally car up the notorious Inverfarigaig Corkscrew. The road on the Corkscrew is pretty narrow for cars that try to drive up it. 😐
Peter and Chris also had trouble catching an old car ferry to the Isle of Skye. I don’t think Peter needed to utter Jesus’ name when it didn’t go right the first time. Thankfully they did it in the end. 🙂
Some of the mishaps that Chris and Peter went through on their car journey in Scotland were pretty interesting. I’m glad they managed it in the end as driving in those conditions can be very dangerous.
The first episode of ‘Great British Car Journeys’ was fun to watch. I enjoyed seeing Chris Timothy and Peter Davison together in this, especially whilst I watched ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ on DVD. 😀
I was looking forward to what would happen next in the following two episodes of Chris and Peter’s car journeys. The gents were clearly enjoying themselves in getting to ride out in a vintage car on vintage roads.
A thing I’ve noticed about the DVD release is that the episodes have ‘Vintage Roads Great and Small’ in the opening titles whilst the DVD says ‘Great British Car Journeys’. Strange the two don’t match. 😐
‘Inverness to the Isle of Skye’ rating – 8/10
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