The suave actor embarks on a journey inspired by the epic film
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
The suave Richard E Grant hops around the Mediterranean in a four-part series inspired by Christopher Nolan’s film that was, in turn, based on Homer’s epic poem. The Odyssey follows our wily hero on his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War as he copes with angry gods, the one-eyed Cyclops and being kept bewitched in a cave by the stunning nymph Calypso. ‘She insisted on having a lot of carnal relations,’ says Grant, adding with a cheeky grin: ‘Odysseus is so devastated by this he stays for seven years.’
Grant visits a cave with a glorious view on the Maltese island of Gozo to tell the story. The archaeologist who joins him claims it’s a contender for Calypso’s cave – ‘this is the beauty of Homer, it’s a very democratic story, it is open to interpretation.’ Or to put it another way, it’s a work of fiction, so the cave could be anywhere locals want it to be.
While the Withnail And I star says he’s loved Homer’s ‘riveting yarn’ since he read it as a teenager, the links to the epic poem are tenuous in part one. Instead, he spends a large part of it bewitched by the beauty of Malta, ticking off something on his bucket list with a visit to St John’s Co-Cathedral in the capital, where he’s ‘flabbergasted’ by its glittering interior – ‘It’s like baroque on steroids.’ He does then head to the genuine site of the ancient city of Troy, now in north-west Turkey, and in the subsequent three parts he visits Sicily, Tunisia, Corfu and the island of Ithaca. It might ultimately be just another celebrity travelogue, but he’s a genuinely enthusiastic and thoroughly engaging travelling companion. (Four episodes)
