Michael Palin’s new Channel 5 series Michael Palin in Venezuela captures the 81-year-old travel presenter at full tilt, combining high-altitude spectacle with close-up encounters, according to a review by Daily Mail TV critic Christopher Stevens.
Stevens said Palin appears "drenched to the skin" and exhilarated in several set pieces, most notably standing in a cave behind a waterfall on the edge of the Amazon and later at the base of Angel Falls after a helicopter ride. In the programme Palin is quoted saying, "I'm 81, I shouldn't be here," and later crowing, "Now I've seen it all."
Stevens described scenes in Caracas where Palin visits the Petare barrios, neighbourhoods he called "slums piled precariously up the suburban mountainsides," and notes the presenter’s engagement with residents during a visit to a small brick-built house. Palin meets a woman caring for her three-year-old nephew whose mother, the critic reported, left Venezuela during its economic collapse and now lives illegally in Florida. Palin’s easy manner and curiosity, Stevens wrote, allowed him to be "shamelessly curious" and to win the trust of people he met.
The critic highlighted Palin’s blend of athleticism and informality, reporting that he bounded up steep stone steps at Salto El Sapo falls and splashed in the shallows near the world’s highest cascade. Stevens compared Palin’s boyish enthusiasm to the fictional child Just William, saying the presenter’s energy and lack of cant made the travelogue "wonderfully watchable." Palin’s apparent comfort with the physical demands of the trip and his readiness to ask informal questions — including a cheeky on-camera query about whether Venezuelans are "good lovers" — were cited as elements that shaped the tone of the series.
Stevens also noted Palin’s interaction with symbolic and political elements of contemporary Venezuela, mentioning a local comic-book satirising the country’s president titled SuperBigote, which the critic rendered as "Super Moustache." The programme, Stevens wrote, does not shy away from the country’s difficulties; he quoted Palin describing Caracas as "the most deadly city in the world" and saying there is an "undercurrent of threat which is quite sinister." Yet, the reviewer emphasised, Palin's approach avoids overt moralising: he takes "the world exactly as it is, marvelling at its injustices and enjoying its delights," Stevens wrote.
The series continues a decades-long strand of travel work for Palin, who first rose to prominence as part of the Monty Python troupe and later established a reputation as a broadcaster with weeks- or months-long travel documentaries, beginning with Around the World in 80 Days more than 35 years ago. Stevens placed the Venezuela programme in that lineage, saying Palin shows few signs of slowing down and remains, for many viewers, "Britain's best-loved traveller."
Channel 5 released Michael Palin in Venezuela as part of a slate of autumn programming that also includes other travel and history shows. Stevens's review, published on Sept. 16, 2025, framed the Venezuela instalment as a demonstration of Palin’s enduring appeal: physically adventurous, curious in interviews and able to adopt a tone that mixes levity with moments of gravity when confronting the country’s economic and social challenges.
The programme is scheduled to air in multiple slots on Channel 5 and on the channel’s streaming platform; further episodes are expected to continue Palin’s tour of the country’s varied landscapes and urban settings, with Stevens suggesting viewers can expect more combinations of spectacle, local encounters and the presenter's characteristic wit.