It's a bit disconcerting in these troubled times, with countries throwing missiles at each other with no obvious forethought, to see a load of people gallivanting gaily about the Med without worrying about closed airspace and rising jet fuel prices.

What I've Been Watching Saturday, April 11, 2026

Disconcerting, but also hugely, wonderfully refreshing, as the five partnerships head off on their Race Across the World (BBC1, Thurs, 9pm).

This series steers clear of the Middle East, heading from Sicily to Mongolia across Greece, Turkiye and the wide open steppes of central Asia.

The contestants at the start of the new series of Race Across the World. From left, Andrew, Molly, Katie, Harrison, Jo, Kush, Mark, Margo, Puja and Roshni (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

placeholder image — The contestants at the start of the new series of Race Across the World. From left, Andrew, Molly, Katie, Harrison, Jo, Kush, Mark, Margo, Puja and Roshni (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

Which means – for the first two episodes at least – we get shots of boats bobbing on crystal-clear water, olive groves and white-washed houses.

It all looks so inviting, you just want to dive straight through your TV screen, or seek out that bottle of retsina which has been gathering dust at the back of the cupboard. You know the one, the seal having been broken on your return from holiday on a wet, blustery late summer British day and you realise it tastes nothing like it did in the vine-dappled shade of a beachside taverna.

It might not be such a welcome trip, if our travelling companions were worlds-apart-review-it-turns-out-that-travelling-across-the-generation-gap-can-be-tediously-repetitive-5354161" rel="follow">appalling bores, or humourless drones.

Fortunately, the BBC has worked its casting magic on our crew of 10 Phileas Foggs, all of whom have hinterlands which might not be obvious at first glance, but who all prove to be winningly easy to get along with.

Siblings Katie and Harrison have different approaches to travel in the new season of Race Across the World (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

At least, they are when you're sitting at home on the sofa.

For Katie, travelling with brother Harrison does have some drawbacks.

He works in finance, and with a limited budget to get them the 12,000km to their final destination – the price of the airfare to fly them both the Mongolia – he likes to keep an iron grip on the cash.

This means that Katie, the more easy-going of the pair, gets frustrated at the slightly joyless way her brother tackles the race.

Mark and Margo cared for Mark's wife Julia - Margo's sister - through a long illness. Now they are on a Race Across the World together in a bid to get to know each other better. (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)

It might pay off, in that they are well-placed in the race, but Katie has the impression they're missing out on something.

Even when a friendly Greek offers them a free bed for the night at his hotel, Harrison gets antsy at the cost of the taxi fare to get there.

“This was for free, enjoy it,” Katie tells Harrison, gazing across the Aegean to distant, dusky in the Mediterranean sunset.

“I'll try,” says Harrison, in a small voice which suggests he's not going to enjoy it, and he's going to make very little attempt to try.

Meanwhile, Scouse teenage pals Jo and Kush are the free-wheeling opposites of Harrison, cheerfully admitting to enjoying not having a plan, and loving the pace of life of fishermen on Lesbos, where they stop to earn a bit of extra cash.

The deep-rooted familial connections the fishermen have with each other gets the boys – both raised by single mums, and both of mixed heritage – musing on family, rootlessness and a sense of belonging in the world.

Jo says: “It has been tricky trying to understand how to be a young man, so hopefully being in the race will broaden my vision of the world.”

On the basis of this, the respective mums of Jo and Kush have done a remarkable job of bringing them up, and it gives you a jolt of delight that actually, the kids are all right, really.

And then there's Mark and Margo, in-laws drawn together by a family tragedy, and trying to get to know each other away from illness, and caring for someone else.

Margo cheerfully admits she found Mark boring, but by the end of the second episode they have already discovered much about the other, and opened up about their experiences of caring for Mark's wife Julia – Margo's sister.

There are wonderful instances of people offering help for free, or a phone to book a hostel, or even just a friendly word.

And it makes you wonder how this gets the lost the further away from it you get. How this basic sense of connection we seem to have on an individual basis disappears when subsumed by nationhood.

Race Across the World is that timely reminder that getting out in the world, being with other people, hearing other voices, is the best tonic for isolationism, jingoism and petty jealousy. Broaden your vision, indeed.