Sky Atlantic — available only to Sky customers — has the cunning/infuriating policy of broadcasting the kind of programmes most likely to appeal to people who pride themselves on not being Sky customers. (Basically, the liberal, metropolitan you-know-what.) Now, to a list that includes Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Girls and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, we can add The Trip, whose third series Sky has poached from the BBC.
Like the first two — set in the Lake District and Italy — The Trip to Spain (Thursday) is directed by Michael Winterbottom and features Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan playing versions of themselves that feel teasingly close to the truth. Brydon is a mostly contented husband and father; Coogan, an anxious autodidact, alternately boasting and fretting about his status in Hollywood.
Once again, the two drive about through lovely scenery, eat at lovely restaurants, prod away at each other’s insecurities and constantly try to top each other’s impersonations — all while just about staying friends.
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