Airdate: Michael Palin’s Brazil

Charming travel presenter Michael Palin whisks us off to South America in his upcoming series Michael Palin’s Brazil.

ABC1 will screen this four part series on Sunday nights with the first episode, “Amazonia.”

Michael Palin undertakes another of his celebrated journeys, visiting Brazil for the first time. From the lost world of Amazonia to the buzzing modern metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, Palin explores this vast and disparate nation in his inimitable way. It’s a timely look at this rising global power, host nation for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

This week Palin begins his journey on the border with Venezuela where he meets the Yanomami people. Hunter-gatherers and feared warriors, they now put their survival skills to the test in the political arena as they battle gold diggers and loggers.

He joins up with musicians from the famed Manaus Opera House, takes a boat to Fordlandia where he finds the dreams of Henry Ford to build a new world now rotting in the jungle. In the capital, Brasilia, he meets punk rockers who came of age with the building of the city, dances with witches, and watches as the new World Cup stadium takes shape.

7:30pm Sunday, 11 November ABC1.