Paul Merton in China - Season 1

Episodes

Season 1Episode 160 min

Beijing

In the first instalment Merton samples fried donkey’s penis (‘Well, I can tell he wasn’t Jewish’), then hijacks a karaoke party held at a faux 17th-century French chateau by singing Unchained Melody in his dressing gown. Beneath the daft facade, however, Merton has clearly done his homework.

The Henan Province

Season 1Episode 260 min

The Henan Province

Paul tries his hand at kung fu at the Shaolin Temple, famed as the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, before visiting a Tibetan monastery and meeting nomads who live on the plains. Paul then takes in two of the most populous cities in China: Chongqing, the largest and fastest growing metroplis in the world, and historic Chengdu, where he meets a businessman with a chain of dog grooming parlours.

Season 1Episode 360 min

Guilin

Season 1Episode 460 min

Shanghai

It's the end of the road for Paul Merton as he visits Shanghai, the final destination on his Chinese trip. On the whole, when he hasn't been pressed into doing silly things, Merton has been an affable and thoughtful guide who's managed to show us little-reported social aspects of this immense and complicated country. He's packed a lot in, too, and this last episode is no different. It's overstuffed with small treats, from Merton trying and failing to become a ballroom dancer, to a trip to the very weird, Prisoner-type community of Thames Town, a largely fake place packed with pristine facades of British buildings - a cathedral, pubs, shops. Only a handful of people actually live on Thames Town's housing estate (which looks so suburban it could be anywhere from Esher to Preston) and the place is, oddly, mainly used as a backdrop for wedding photographs.

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