1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:02,840 'I've been lucky enough 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:05,840 'to have visited some fantastic places over the years.' 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:07,400 Holy smoke. 4 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:10,720 'Travel is my passion, it's in my blood, 5 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,600 'and I'm thrilled that I've been able to take you with me 6 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:15,280 'on these journeys.' 7 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:20,280 Look at this. It's magic. 8 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,480 'What you eventually see on your screen 9 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,600 'takes weeks to shoot and months to edit.' 10 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:27,400 Oh, my Lord. 11 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,080 'We haven't always had the time to show you everything we film. 12 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,400 'But we kept the unshown stories safe.' 13 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,520 Stark naked and swimming like a fish. 14 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,560 'So I've gone back as far east as Japan...' 15 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:41,720 SHE GIGGLES '..all across the world, 16 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:43,280 'to Cuba in the west.' 17 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,640 Are you a pirate? No. 18 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:47,200 Pff. Tch. 19 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,880 'And now I can reveal this treasure trove.' 20 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:51,000 Lovely. 21 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,320 'Also, show to you a little about how these programmes are made...' 22 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,720 These rather grand and beautiful houses are called yell... Oof. 23 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:03,360 '..and why I love making them.' Welcome to my Unseen Adventures. 24 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:13,880 'We start these adventures in one of the most remote places 25 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:15,720 'I have ever been.' 26 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,840 SHE GASPS Look at that. 27 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,200 Gee whiz. 28 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,640 'We filmed in eight countries for the Silk Road series.' 29 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,080 Hello, honey. 30 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,720 'From Venice to the Chinese border.' 31 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:30,680 This is majestic. 32 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,280 'But this, we thought, 33 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,760 'was an excellent place to start an episode.' 34 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:36,120 CAMEL GRUNTS 35 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:41,520 'The Kyzyl Kum Desert in the far west of Uzbekistan.' 36 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:43,720 In theory, it doesn't sound so difficult - 37 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,880 I just walk across a desert leading a couple of camels, 38 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,120 saying a couple of lines to camera. 39 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,280 But actually, it became unbelievably difficult. 40 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,920 Steer with the front one. 41 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,120 Head for me, Joanna. OK, certainly, sir. 42 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,120 Going towards Kiff. Come on, come on. 43 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,240 CAMELS GRUNT 44 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,040 The thing is, they want to go home. They're hungry. 45 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,280 The camel man hadn't fed them, so they were starving. 46 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,440 So it took on a sort of pantomime horse quality 47 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,880 of me rushing after them and holding onto the rope 48 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:18,960 and being dragged along. 49 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:23,960 Hang on a second. Hang on, hang on, hang on. 50 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,400 So, Joanna, you just go to where you feel best. 51 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:28,720 We don't know where we're going. 52 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,000 Well, can we take them in a different direction? 53 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,000 No, cos that's... that's home, that's where food is. 54 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,200 We had to keep on bringing the camels round again, 55 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,560 we couldn't stop them, the crew got in the way, 56 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,040 they're all falling over, everyone was getting quite cross. 57 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,680 It's quite hard. 58 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,440 It's... I mean, I'll walk with them, but if I can't, 59 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,400 I can't manage them and... and talk to camera. 60 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,600 Shall we just... Because there's all this as well. 61 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:54,800 ..have the man managing them and you beside them? 62 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,280 Much better that I'm walking along. We're coming. 63 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,520 'It's quite normal for things not to go exactly to plan, 64 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,000 'but you just have to stay calm and adapt to the situation.' 65 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,320 I'm in the far west of Uzbekistan, in Central Asia, 66 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:14,560 and around me for 400 miles is desert in every direction. 67 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,600 This scene really has been unchanged for 2,000 years, great camels, 68 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,240 ships of the desert. 69 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:27,360 They take me through strange places like that. 70 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,640 They can carry unimaginably heavy loads 71 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,280 and it was really thanks to these guys that the Silk Road 72 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,960 was able to operate at all. 73 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:39,120 That's great, lovely, thank you. 74 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:48,520 'The city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital, is 500 miles away, 75 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,120 'and it felt like a completely different country.' 76 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,320 I had such a picture in my mind of what Tashkent was going to be like 77 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,800 and I was absolutely wrong. 78 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,800 Because it had been under Soviet rule for 50 years, 79 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,840 I imagined it would be full of sombre, kind of heavy, dark, 80 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,040 tall, utilitarian buildings. 81 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,880 But in fact, the Russians loved Tashkent so much 82 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,800 because they used to go there as a holiday resort 83 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,040 that they made it absolutely beautiful when they remade it. 84 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,040 And to me, it felt... Well, it felt like Paris. 85 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,600 'Tashkent was just dazzling. The streets were gleaming, 86 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,360 'the architecture stunning. 87 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,200 'Even the metro system was something quite special.' 88 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:33,320 SHE GASPS 89 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,440 Look at these glass, gorgeous pillars. 90 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,120 Isn't this beautiful? 91 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,880 'I managed to gate-crash this do, and who knew that Uzbeki weddings 92 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:47,480 'are some of the most flamboyant and expensive in the world?' 93 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,920 Look at this! Isn't it fabulous? 94 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,760 'But the gems I'm about to show you 95 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,760 'appeared in the most unexpected places.' 96 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:08,000 Look at these! Sapphire. 97 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,240 What colour is this? This is Swiss Blue. 98 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,600 I like this. I love Swiss Blue. 99 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,960 This is London, that's London in a thick fog. 100 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,000 London at midnight. London at midnight. 101 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,920 Ooh, looking through it, to London blue. 102 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,840 'What is extraordinary is that I'm actually in a nuclear facility, 103 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:33,040 'which, in the Soviet era, carried out military experiments 104 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,120 'and space research. 105 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:40,240 'Now they've turned their hand to making these magnificent jewels. 106 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:45,280 'The science behind this is obviously hugely impressive. 107 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:48,560 'But... don't ask me how they do it. 108 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,560 'Ask Professor Ibragimova.' 109 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:57,840 Surrounded with oxygen. Oxygen, oxygen, oxygen, oxygen. 110 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,880 But sometimes it's pinkish, or slightly bluish. 111 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,320 How to transform this quartz into topaz. 112 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,960 Add aluminium, this is what happen. 113 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,800 Please, miss. Ten to 14 electrons. 114 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,280 Oh, I forgot to add the second. 115 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:19,680 Yeah, now you've got the second, I'm following you. Yeah. 116 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,880 Did you understood? 'Mm, sort of. 117 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:25,760 'One thing I did want to clear up 118 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,120 'was how much these big rocks are actually worth.' 119 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,960 This gorgeous little stone, well, "little", weighs a tonne. 120 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:38,000 It's actually worth $100,000. 121 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,120 SHE INHALES 122 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,280 'The next place I'm taking you to 123 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:48,520 'is somewhere I had longed to visit for half my life.' 124 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,480 Samarkand is Uzbekistan's second-largest city 125 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,360 and it's existed for thousands of years. 126 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,640 It's a place of legend, it draws travellers towards it. 127 00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:59,320 And, in fact, a lot of the travellers 128 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:03,560 which were on the Silk Road came like a magnet to Samarkand. 129 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,720 James Elroy Flecker, the great poet, wrote a poem 130 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,760 called The Golden Journey To Samarkand about exactly that, 131 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,000 traders and travellers all being drawn towards it 132 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,400 and one of them, Eshak, says, 133 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,280 "We travel not for trafficking alone, 134 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,960 "by hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned. 135 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,200 "For lust of knowing what should not be known, 136 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,840 "we take the Golden Road to Samarkand." 137 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:36,240 'Like Xanadu or Shangri La, Samarkand seemed just too fantastic, 138 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,280 'but I was on my way to see those great glittering domes 139 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:44,480 'and turquoise buildings. They're real, and I was travelling there!' 140 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:48,080 Just not quite the way that I'd imagined. 141 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,160 This is absolutely extraordinary, 142 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:57,400 I'm on a train from Tashkent to Samarkand. 143 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,040 I mean, I think I'd imagined... Well, not obviously on camels, 144 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,480 but I'd imagined a kind of scuffly dirt track, 145 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,240 a little bit of a third worldy-type train 146 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,160 with chickens fluttering out of the air. 147 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:12,920 Instead, I've got coffee in a mug with Chanel written on it, 148 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,080 the most beautiful fruit salad you've ever seen. 149 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,560 I'm sitting in a second-class carriage 150 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,880 with the most immense amount of room and splendour and cleanliness. 151 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,080 It is fantastic. 152 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,040 I can't think, why didn't we know about this? 153 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,920 Why didn't we know about Uzbekistan? 154 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,800 I'd come here for my holidays every year if I could. 155 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,800 Get yourself to Tashkent and take the train to Samarkand. 156 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,600 It's... This is not... 157 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,800 It's all about will. But do you see this? 158 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,200 Do you want that? Oh, darling, I'm sorry, Kiffo. 159 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:49,920 That's absolutely fine. OK, let's go. 160 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,800 I suppose that they're making an announcement 161 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:54,960 we're soon coming in to Samarkand. 162 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:56,560 Wait for that to go? 163 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,440 They're just making an announcement, we're soon to arrive at Samarkand. 164 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,760 I'm looking at this old book, this French book about photographs. 165 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,440 It's extraordinary, because Samarkand was pretty much in ruins 166 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,200 at the turn of the last century, and it was during the Soviet regime 167 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,280 in the 1920s that they decided to build it up, and fabulous. 168 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,840 I'm always saying "fabulous" and "wow", 169 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:19,200 and people have ticked me off, 170 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,440 sometimes people say, "Must you keep on saying that?" 171 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,080 And the answer is, yes. 172 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:25,920 I'm going to get ready to go. 173 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,200 Put your cameras down, we've got to get ready to go! 174 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:33,960 'Being part of a team has always been important to me. 175 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,360 'As an actress, of course, you're part of a cast, so that's a team, 176 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:38,920 'you all have to rely on each other.' 177 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:40,120 And I've been travelling 178 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:44,520 with the same crew for about, gosh, it's, oh, it's over ten years. 179 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,760 And so we've got to know each other, we travel actually like a family. 180 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,480 Um, they are a little bit younger than me, 181 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:53,680 so I like to think of them as my younger brothers, 182 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:55,720 or occasionally, my sons. 183 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,320 Just very, very occasionally, my grandchildren, 184 00:09:58,320 --> 00:09:59,920 from the way they behave, 185 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,200 but they're usually terribly good and terribly kind 186 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:05,160 and very helpful, and they tell me when I'm looking... 187 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,120 not quite up to scratch, or tuck bits into me, 188 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,800 or there's a wire showing or a cable showing. 189 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:15,240 So, teamwork, all the shows I do are about team work. 190 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:17,680 Warts and all. 191 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:21,640 And as far as the crew goes, lots of warts, I'm afraid. 192 00:10:31,450 --> 00:10:35,130 It's odd to say this, but the most unexpected thing 193 00:10:35,130 --> 00:10:40,090 I remember about Samarkand was its magical bread. 194 00:10:41,410 --> 00:10:43,330 Hello, ladies. SHE GASPS 195 00:10:43,330 --> 00:10:46,010 Oh, look. Gosh, she's got... Look how shiny! 196 00:10:46,010 --> 00:10:50,490 'The women selling it on the streets were very cagey about their sources. 197 00:10:50,490 --> 00:10:52,330 'But I managed to track down some being made 198 00:10:52,330 --> 00:10:54,530 'in the back streets of the city.' 199 00:10:54,530 --> 00:10:57,450 The smell here, it smells like paradise. 200 00:10:57,450 --> 00:10:59,770 It's cooling off enough for me to hold it, and show it to you 201 00:10:59,770 --> 00:11:02,330 very quickly and then put it down, cos it's unbelievably hot. 202 00:11:02,330 --> 00:11:04,210 THEY LAUGH It's so hot. 203 00:11:06,290 --> 00:11:09,570 'Besides its bread, what you need to know about Samarkand 204 00:11:09,570 --> 00:11:13,570 'is who built this city and made it the capital of his empire. 205 00:11:15,730 --> 00:11:18,210 'Amir Timur, or Tamerlane, 206 00:11:18,210 --> 00:11:21,890 'carved out one of the biggest empires the world has ever seen. 207 00:11:21,890 --> 00:11:24,530 'In the process, Timur is believed to have killed 208 00:11:24,530 --> 00:11:27,010 'around 17 million people - 209 00:11:27,010 --> 00:11:30,570 'that was about 5% of the world's population at the time. 210 00:11:34,730 --> 00:11:38,650 'We marvelled at Timur's magnificent mausoleum.' 211 00:11:38,650 --> 00:11:44,690 And now he's lying to rest in this phenomenal, 212 00:11:44,690 --> 00:11:49,130 extraordinary, calm, quiet, beautiful place. 213 00:11:54,370 --> 00:11:56,970 'But I want to tell you now the grizzly story 214 00:11:56,970 --> 00:11:59,730 'behind one of Samarkand's architectural masterpieces. 215 00:12:02,250 --> 00:12:06,890 'Tamerlane was merciless, but he spared the lives of talented artists 216 00:12:06,890 --> 00:12:11,970 'and artisans, and put them to work on building his magnificent capital. 217 00:12:13,090 --> 00:12:16,770 'The building I'm about to show you was built for Amir Timur 218 00:12:16,770 --> 00:12:18,730 'by his favourite wife.' 219 00:12:18,730 --> 00:12:23,850 I'm... That walking fellow was in the way. 220 00:12:23,850 --> 00:12:26,970 And it's so wide here. You've got to watch that. 221 00:12:28,050 --> 00:12:32,290 Amir Timur, Tamerlane, had 18 wives. 222 00:12:32,290 --> 00:12:35,610 But his favourite, and the first one, was called Bibi-Khanym. 223 00:12:35,610 --> 00:12:39,210 She was the oldest, and Bibi-Khanym means "first lady". 224 00:12:39,210 --> 00:12:41,970 He adored her, she adored him, 225 00:12:41,970 --> 00:12:43,970 and when he was away on one of his campaigns, 226 00:12:43,970 --> 00:12:47,730 she decided to give him a treat he would never forget. 227 00:12:47,730 --> 00:12:50,650 So, Bibi-Khanym commissioned an architect 228 00:12:50,650 --> 00:12:55,650 to design and build the most colossal mosque ever, 229 00:12:55,650 --> 00:12:58,450 easily the largest in Central Asia. 230 00:12:58,450 --> 00:13:04,490 And this is it. Huge, monumental, absolutely colossal. 231 00:13:04,490 --> 00:13:08,490 Beautiful, traditional gateways, the wonderful tile work, 232 00:13:08,490 --> 00:13:12,130 stunning, thrown up pretty quickly, bits dropping off, but nevertheless 233 00:13:12,130 --> 00:13:16,810 absolutely spectacular because Bibi adored Timur 234 00:13:16,810 --> 00:13:19,170 and Timur adored Bibi. But... 235 00:13:20,490 --> 00:13:24,410 ..the architect also adored Bibi-Khanym. 236 00:13:26,650 --> 00:13:29,730 'Just as I was about to give you the final twist in the tale, 237 00:13:29,730 --> 00:13:32,970 'we were stopped by three generations of Uzbeki women. 238 00:13:32,970 --> 00:13:36,930 'It's these random encounters that I really love.' 239 00:13:36,930 --> 00:13:39,610 How old are you? How old am I? 240 00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:44,090 I am very old, honey, how old are you? 241 00:13:44,090 --> 00:13:45,810 How old? I am 12. 242 00:13:45,810 --> 00:13:47,690 You're 12? Grandmas. 243 00:13:47,690 --> 00:13:51,930 Grandmother. It's lovely to see you, proud of your girl. 244 00:13:51,930 --> 00:13:53,890 Lovely girl. How many children? 245 00:13:53,890 --> 00:13:57,450 I've got one child, two grandchildren. 246 00:13:57,450 --> 00:14:01,090 And my grandchild, like you, is tall. 247 00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:04,610 Work? Work. Film. 248 00:14:04,610 --> 00:14:06,090 Film? Film. 249 00:14:06,090 --> 00:14:09,970 Producer? No, I'm presenter. 250 00:14:09,970 --> 00:14:15,290 Cameraman, director, sound engineer. 251 00:14:15,290 --> 00:14:17,570 Thank you. Thank you. 252 00:14:17,570 --> 00:14:20,290 Goodbye. 253 00:14:20,290 --> 00:14:22,450 That tall girl, just like my granddaughters, 254 00:14:22,450 --> 00:14:24,490 who are great, tall girls too. 255 00:14:24,490 --> 00:14:27,770 Very sweet. OK, let's tell you about the architecture. 256 00:14:27,770 --> 00:14:30,130 Just walk a bit now and get in to that. 257 00:14:34,410 --> 00:14:39,570 Look at these domes, they are sensationally pretty. 258 00:14:39,570 --> 00:14:44,770 Decorated everything so delicately, so boldly, 259 00:14:44,770 --> 00:14:46,810 And look at this. 260 00:14:46,810 --> 00:14:51,410 So beautiful. And Bibi-Khanym was so thrilled with it. 261 00:14:51,410 --> 00:14:56,170 And the architect had fallen deeply in love with her, 262 00:14:56,170 --> 00:14:58,410 and he kissed her on the cheek. 263 00:14:58,410 --> 00:15:00,810 When Timur returned from his campaign, 264 00:15:00,810 --> 00:15:05,370 he saw that there'd been a dalliance going on and he was furious about it 265 00:15:05,370 --> 00:15:08,330 and he had the architect executed. 266 00:15:08,330 --> 00:15:12,650 And although he was cross with Bibi, he didn't kill her. 267 00:15:12,650 --> 00:15:18,690 In fact, she outlived him, and this outlived them both. 268 00:15:23,770 --> 00:15:28,650 It's incredible, but up until the 1970s, 269 00:15:28,650 --> 00:15:31,570 the great city lay in ruins and if it... it... 270 00:15:31,570 --> 00:15:33,930 I can't say that, sorry, the cat walked past the window. 271 00:15:33,930 --> 00:15:35,370 That's nothing, it shouldn't be. 272 00:15:35,370 --> 00:15:38,210 Could you keep away from behind the camera? Thanks, love. 273 00:15:39,690 --> 00:15:45,690 It's incredible, but up until the 1970s, this great city lay in ruins. 274 00:15:45,690 --> 00:15:48,450 And if it hadn't been for Soviet-backed restoration, 275 00:15:48,450 --> 00:15:51,690 Samarkand would not be the place that it is today. 276 00:15:54,370 --> 00:15:57,050 'A bit like the Forth Road Bridge, 277 00:15:57,050 --> 00:16:02,410 'the upkeep of all Samarkand's buildings is a never-ending process. 278 00:16:02,410 --> 00:16:06,490 'Nazar was 75 years old when I met him, 279 00:16:06,490 --> 00:16:11,210 'and is a ninth-generation master wood carver.' 280 00:16:11,210 --> 00:16:15,050 Do you design the panels yourself? 281 00:16:23,570 --> 00:16:25,810 How did you lose the tops of your fingers? 282 00:16:25,810 --> 00:16:27,610 Did you chop them when you were a boy? 283 00:16:31,730 --> 00:16:34,010 Whereabouts in Samarkand 284 00:16:34,010 --> 00:16:37,370 are examples of your fine restoration work? 285 00:16:49,650 --> 00:16:52,610 'Samarkand's bewildering range of historic treasures 286 00:16:52,610 --> 00:16:54,450 'surpassed what I had imagined, 287 00:16:54,450 --> 00:16:58,370 'and you have to work hard to see a fraction of what's on offer.' 288 00:17:01,210 --> 00:17:02,770 That's quite a climb up there. 289 00:17:02,770 --> 00:17:05,810 Before I leave, I just wanted to come to this extraordinary place, 290 00:17:05,810 --> 00:17:09,530 the Shah-i-Zinda. It is a collection of mausoleums 291 00:17:09,530 --> 00:17:11,810 and most of the people buried here are women. 292 00:17:11,810 --> 00:17:15,650 It's so touching, I just wanted to come and pay my last respects here 293 00:17:15,650 --> 00:17:19,610 before I leave the golden city of Samarkand. 294 00:17:23,650 --> 00:17:26,970 'This site is a series of exquisite mausoleums 295 00:17:26,970 --> 00:17:29,810 'built up over the course of eight centuries. 296 00:17:29,810 --> 00:17:33,690 'Qasim ibn al-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, 297 00:17:33,690 --> 00:17:36,250 'came here to preach Islam in the seventh century, 298 00:17:36,250 --> 00:17:38,650 'and was beheaded for his trouble. 299 00:17:39,730 --> 00:17:42,250 'His tomb crowns the site, 300 00:17:42,250 --> 00:17:45,850 'and we were invited by the Mullah to hear prayers in his honour.' 301 00:17:45,850 --> 00:17:49,410 PRAYER CHANTS 302 00:18:27,810 --> 00:18:31,770 'Next, we're off to India to see just what it takes 303 00:18:31,770 --> 00:18:34,490 'to capture this fascinating land on film...' 304 00:18:34,490 --> 00:18:37,890 Kiff's going to be angry, Kiff's always angry. 305 00:18:37,890 --> 00:18:40,130 '..to unveil some more treasures...' 306 00:18:40,130 --> 00:18:41,650 I just want to buy something here. 307 00:18:41,650 --> 00:18:44,890 '..from my trove of unseen footage.' 308 00:18:44,890 --> 00:18:47,730 It had the most ghastly consequences. 309 00:18:56,190 --> 00:19:00,630 'In 2017, the crew and I spent almost two months filming 310 00:19:00,630 --> 00:19:03,190 'all across India to make a series of three programmes. 311 00:19:06,470 --> 00:19:09,590 'India was celebrating 70 years of independence. 312 00:19:11,430 --> 00:19:13,110 'It's the land of my birth, 313 00:19:13,110 --> 00:19:18,110 'and this complex and stunning country is especially dear to me. 314 00:19:20,670 --> 00:19:24,310 'We decided to start our trip to India in Kanyakumari, 315 00:19:24,310 --> 00:19:27,390 'which is on the very, very southern-most tip of the country.' 316 00:19:27,390 --> 00:19:30,590 We had to fly during the night to Delhi, and then stay awake 317 00:19:30,590 --> 00:19:33,150 and catch our connecting flight to the south of the country 318 00:19:33,150 --> 00:19:34,950 at about... I think it was about three. 319 00:19:34,950 --> 00:19:37,710 So we'd virtually had a whole night without sleep. 320 00:19:37,710 --> 00:19:41,110 And we arrived down in the south, but we were lured to Kanyakumari 321 00:19:41,110 --> 00:19:45,790 because we'd been told about the great golden orb of the sun rising 322 00:19:45,790 --> 00:19:49,390 out of the Indian Ocean and all the people streaming out, 323 00:19:49,390 --> 00:19:51,350 backlit with the sun, 324 00:19:51,350 --> 00:19:54,190 and I should stand there and it would be absolutely glorious. 325 00:20:00,670 --> 00:20:05,590 'Well, on the morning, we got up before dawn, of course, 326 00:20:05,590 --> 00:20:07,790 'and it was lacerating rain, 327 00:20:07,790 --> 00:20:12,350 'it was the wind blowing, a force-eight gale, it was flapping 328 00:20:12,350 --> 00:20:16,830 'and everything was looking grey and completely not like India.' 329 00:20:16,830 --> 00:20:18,670 "Oh," we thought. "This is terrible." 330 00:20:18,670 --> 00:20:21,910 Because what you really want to do is get the first shot of the show 331 00:20:21,910 --> 00:20:24,870 in the bag, then you feel you're off on your journey. 332 00:20:24,870 --> 00:20:27,190 WIND GUSTS 333 00:20:33,750 --> 00:20:36,590 Would you not? Oh, is hair better than hat? You say. 334 00:20:36,590 --> 00:20:39,870 'That day, I had chosen a bright yellow blouse 335 00:20:39,870 --> 00:20:42,470 'that I'd thought would look good in the morning light. 336 00:20:42,470 --> 00:20:46,310 'I hadn't thought about how noisy it would be in a force-eight gale.' 337 00:20:46,310 --> 00:20:48,830 This shirt is noisy. Spinnaker, isn't it? 338 00:20:48,830 --> 00:20:51,430 And it's raining, too. Other than that... 339 00:20:51,430 --> 00:20:54,470 Other than that. I know, I'm making quite a sort of feast of it. 340 00:20:54,470 --> 00:20:56,150 Tell me, tell me. 341 00:20:56,150 --> 00:20:57,510 'What were we gonna to do?' 342 00:20:57,510 --> 00:20:59,830 What was our first shot to camera going to be like? 343 00:20:59,830 --> 00:21:03,070 What was our introduction to India going to look like on screen? 344 00:21:08,510 --> 00:21:13,830 This is the meeting place of three great expanses of water. 345 00:21:13,830 --> 00:21:17,430 To the east, the Bay of Bengal. To the west, the Arabian Sea. 346 00:21:17,430 --> 00:21:21,910 And here behind me, to the south, the mighty Indian Ocean. 347 00:21:21,910 --> 00:21:25,310 I'm on the southern-most tip of one of the most intriguing, 348 00:21:25,310 --> 00:21:28,030 bewildering and thrilling countries on Earth. 349 00:21:28,030 --> 00:21:32,190 Come with me through India. 350 00:21:35,150 --> 00:21:40,910 'No-one seemed shy, and back in 2016, India had gone selfie mad.' 351 00:21:40,910 --> 00:21:43,630 English? English. 352 00:21:43,630 --> 00:21:47,270 What is your name? My name is Joanna. 353 00:21:47,270 --> 00:21:49,070 Joanna. Joanna. 354 00:21:49,070 --> 00:21:51,870 And your name? CHILD REPLIES 355 00:21:51,870 --> 00:21:55,550 Oh, very good. Ma'am, one photo? 356 00:21:55,550 --> 00:21:59,150 Yes, we will do that, darling, we will do the photo now this second. 357 00:22:03,390 --> 00:22:06,590 'We did eventually get a wonderful opening scene, 358 00:22:06,590 --> 00:22:09,590 'just not quite the one we'd planned.' 359 00:22:19,910 --> 00:22:21,630 TRAIN HORN BLARES 360 00:22:25,470 --> 00:22:29,950 'The first stop on our Indian adventure was the city of Madurai, 361 00:22:29,950 --> 00:22:33,270 'which is just a couple of hours north by train. 362 00:22:33,270 --> 00:22:36,510 'You may notice that I'm carrying an extraordinarily hefty 363 00:22:36,510 --> 00:22:39,990 'leather suitcase. It's been in the family for years.' 364 00:22:39,990 --> 00:22:43,230 And these are just some things I've bought along for the trip, 365 00:22:43,230 --> 00:22:44,990 they're things that remind me of India, 366 00:22:44,990 --> 00:22:46,510 or have got India connotations. 367 00:22:46,510 --> 00:22:48,670 And I've bought in this suitcase, all kinds of things, 368 00:22:48,670 --> 00:22:50,190 like, for instance, 369 00:22:50,190 --> 00:22:54,430 this is my parents getting married up in Sunaga in 1941. 370 00:22:54,430 --> 00:22:57,830 And this is Daddy, he's a captain in the Gurkhas. 371 00:22:57,830 --> 00:23:01,910 'My old suitcase was jam-packed with memorabilia from a bygone era. 372 00:23:01,910 --> 00:23:05,630 'The idea was to unpack it slowly during my travels. 373 00:23:05,630 --> 00:23:08,990 'In the end, this was its only cameo appearance.' 374 00:23:08,990 --> 00:23:10,950 And although I was too little to know it, 375 00:23:10,950 --> 00:23:13,350 my mother grieved terribly at having to leave India. 376 00:23:13,350 --> 00:23:17,710 She always spoke fluent Urdu and my father used to talk in Gurjari. 377 00:23:17,710 --> 00:23:19,190 Those were their secret languages 378 00:23:19,190 --> 00:23:21,910 between each other when they didn't want the children to understand. 379 00:23:24,030 --> 00:23:28,390 This was Mummy's old pocket English-Hindustani dictionary, 380 00:23:28,390 --> 00:23:30,630 and later on, I'm going to become fluent in Hindi 381 00:23:30,630 --> 00:23:32,030 during this short journey. 382 00:23:32,030 --> 00:23:35,750 I'm going to be able to say things like, "Have you finished reading?" 383 00:23:35,750 --> 00:23:37,590 SHE REPEATS THE PHRASE IN HINDI 384 00:23:37,590 --> 00:23:40,230 "Do you get tea and vegetables daily?" 385 00:23:40,230 --> 00:23:44,310 SHE REPEATS THE PHRASE IN HINDI 386 00:23:44,310 --> 00:23:46,190 But anyway, this is fascinating, 387 00:23:46,190 --> 00:23:48,630 and I'm just ashamed I searched and searched to find it. 388 00:23:48,630 --> 00:23:51,190 I only found it the day before I came, 389 00:23:51,190 --> 00:23:52,910 otherwise I'd be fluent already. 390 00:23:54,830 --> 00:23:59,030 These are unbelievably old, I think these go back to 1901 or something, 391 00:23:59,030 --> 00:24:01,270 the field glasses that they had. 392 00:24:01,270 --> 00:24:03,190 But they're actually completely beautiful. 393 00:24:03,190 --> 00:24:06,110 Look, and I can see you perfectly from here. 394 00:24:06,110 --> 00:24:08,390 That was actually a lie, but do you know what I mean? 395 00:24:08,390 --> 00:24:10,350 I know I'm going to be able to see perfectly 396 00:24:10,350 --> 00:24:11,990 through these divine little glasses. 397 00:24:11,990 --> 00:24:14,310 It could be that I was looking through the wrong end of them. 398 00:24:23,150 --> 00:24:28,070 'The city of Madurai is dominated by the 14 colourful towers 399 00:24:28,070 --> 00:24:32,750 'of the astonishing 2,500-year-old Hindu temple there. 400 00:24:32,750 --> 00:24:36,350 'It was initially the principal object of our attention, 401 00:24:36,350 --> 00:24:39,270 'but it's in the back streets that you find the best characters 402 00:24:39,270 --> 00:24:42,310 'and learn most about a country.' 403 00:24:49,510 --> 00:24:53,350 'I can't believe that I'm sharing this moment with you again, 404 00:24:53,350 --> 00:24:55,630 'but I got measured up for a fabulous shirt 405 00:24:55,630 --> 00:24:57,950 'in the market surrounding the temple.' 406 00:24:57,950 --> 00:24:59,190 32. 32. 407 00:24:59,190 --> 00:25:01,790 38 there. 408 00:25:01,790 --> 00:25:04,470 Please don't listen to this. I'm going to dub over it afterwards, 409 00:25:04,470 --> 00:25:08,790 it's going to say 36, 24, 37. 410 00:25:08,790 --> 00:25:10,230 What's happened? 411 00:25:10,230 --> 00:25:13,630 I've literally trebled, trebled in size. 412 00:25:13,630 --> 00:25:16,150 'Humiliating, I know. 413 00:25:16,150 --> 00:25:19,670 'But I still have and love this top, and it reminds me of Madurai.' 414 00:25:23,630 --> 00:25:27,070 Beautiful garlands made of tuberoses, 415 00:25:27,070 --> 00:25:29,670 which is that really sweet... these little sweet, white flowers 416 00:25:29,670 --> 00:25:31,470 and tiny pink rosebuds. 417 00:25:31,470 --> 00:25:34,190 These are beautiful garlands. Yes, yes. 418 00:25:34,190 --> 00:25:37,230 This flower is like this one day. One day? 419 00:25:37,230 --> 00:25:39,030 One day alive. 420 00:25:39,030 --> 00:25:41,390 But this flower here, three days live. 421 00:25:41,390 --> 00:25:43,270 Three days. So these are more expensive? 422 00:25:43,270 --> 00:25:44,270 Yes, yes. 423 00:25:47,550 --> 00:25:50,750 'I was mesmerised by the dexterity and finesse 424 00:25:50,750 --> 00:25:52,510 'of these garland-makers.' 425 00:25:54,630 --> 00:25:57,630 This is just beautiful, this is one of the most skilful things, 426 00:25:57,630 --> 00:26:00,550 he's making garlands for people to buy to take to the temple, 427 00:26:00,550 --> 00:26:03,350 using this gorgeous fibrous palm leaf, 428 00:26:03,350 --> 00:26:06,310 which he strips down into thin bits. 429 00:26:06,310 --> 00:26:08,510 And then this soft, soft cotton, 430 00:26:08,510 --> 00:26:11,310 which I think he can break with his hands as he just does it, 431 00:26:11,310 --> 00:26:12,790 he does it like that. 432 00:26:12,790 --> 00:26:17,270 Um, tell me, sir, how long have you been making garlands like this? 433 00:26:17,270 --> 00:26:19,670 Ten years now. Ten years? 434 00:26:19,670 --> 00:26:22,310 And is it very difficult? 435 00:26:22,310 --> 00:26:23,670 Very easy. 436 00:26:23,670 --> 00:26:25,030 It's very easy? 437 00:26:26,310 --> 00:26:29,470 You try? No, I don't think I can, 438 00:26:29,470 --> 00:26:31,230 I don't think I can. 439 00:26:35,030 --> 00:26:37,270 No, I think I'll leave this to him. 440 00:26:37,270 --> 00:26:40,110 I think you do this so much better than I do. 441 00:26:40,110 --> 00:26:43,590 What I love about travelling is that, in some way, 442 00:26:43,590 --> 00:26:47,030 every country you enter, you become a different person. 443 00:26:47,030 --> 00:26:49,830 Nobody there really knows you, and I've got to say, 444 00:26:49,830 --> 00:26:52,870 even though I'm quite well-known in countries which have television, 445 00:26:52,870 --> 00:26:55,070 because I've been on screens for so long, 446 00:26:55,070 --> 00:26:57,070 a lot of the countries I go to have no idea who you are, 447 00:26:57,070 --> 00:26:58,710 so you're completely anonymous. 448 00:26:58,710 --> 00:27:01,590 What I love doing is sitting and watching. 449 00:27:01,590 --> 00:27:05,390 Sitting on a train watching people, sitting at a cafe in a street, 450 00:27:05,390 --> 00:27:07,990 just walking and looking and staring. 451 00:27:07,990 --> 00:27:10,590 Don't fill your days so full of stuff 452 00:27:10,590 --> 00:27:13,030 that you don't have time just to sit and stare, 453 00:27:13,030 --> 00:27:15,230 because that's when you really take in countries. 454 00:27:15,230 --> 00:27:17,630 And don't always go to see the finest and the best 455 00:27:17,630 --> 00:27:19,630 and the most obvious sights. 456 00:27:19,630 --> 00:27:21,310 Go off the beaten track, 457 00:27:21,310 --> 00:27:23,710 go to a small village which hasn't got a grand temple, 458 00:27:23,710 --> 00:27:27,350 just go and be in that village, go and walk about, 459 00:27:27,350 --> 00:27:29,710 see if you can talk to somebody. 460 00:27:29,710 --> 00:27:32,670 I love travelling, I literally couldn't live without it. 461 00:27:38,590 --> 00:27:41,030 This is what you would call a fairly casual manicure, 462 00:27:41,030 --> 00:27:43,710 you just sort of throw it on roughly on the end of your fingers 463 00:27:43,710 --> 00:27:45,910 and goes on the skin, doesn't really matter. 464 00:27:45,910 --> 00:27:49,230 Just sort of slap it on. Just taking a little bit more care, I think, 465 00:27:49,230 --> 00:27:51,670 with her own toes than she did with her sister's fingers. 466 00:27:51,670 --> 00:27:54,070 Can you see this lovely, slightly scattergun, approach 467 00:27:54,070 --> 00:27:55,550 to putting on nail varnish? 468 00:27:55,550 --> 00:27:58,110 Put some on the back of the palm as well, it doesn't matter. 469 00:27:58,110 --> 00:28:00,790 It's lovely, and are you going to have your hands painted? 470 00:28:00,790 --> 00:28:03,230 No, no, no. 471 00:28:03,230 --> 00:28:06,270 Tell me, which is your favourite god? 472 00:28:06,270 --> 00:28:08,470 Meenakshi. Meenakshi? 473 00:28:08,470 --> 00:28:11,990 SHE GASPS Ah, Meenakshi! 474 00:28:16,230 --> 00:28:19,150 WAILING IN BACKGROUND There's a great sorrow here. 475 00:28:19,150 --> 00:28:23,790 'The Meenakshi Temple is a highly auspicious Hindu site. 476 00:28:23,790 --> 00:28:27,030 'And thousands of the faithful visit the temple every day. 477 00:28:27,030 --> 00:28:31,590 'And, not surprisingly, some become overwhelmed by the experience.' 478 00:28:31,590 --> 00:28:35,310 It's possessed and in a trance, my gosh. 479 00:28:35,310 --> 00:28:38,710 You can see dancing in front of the three-pronged temple there, 480 00:28:38,710 --> 00:28:41,590 it's been going on a bit. I thought it was somebody in terrible grief, 481 00:28:41,590 --> 00:28:44,190 but in fact it's just trance-like dancing for the gods 482 00:28:44,190 --> 00:28:46,150 and then being possessed by the spirit 483 00:28:46,150 --> 00:28:48,350 and speaking in tongues, I think. 484 00:28:48,350 --> 00:28:51,070 Thank you. You're welcome. 485 00:28:51,070 --> 00:28:54,030 Good, thank you darling. Very, very good. 486 00:28:57,390 --> 00:29:00,750 'Our visit here centred around an awe-inspiring ceremony.' 487 00:29:00,750 --> 00:29:04,310 Oh, look, look, look what's coming. 488 00:29:06,110 --> 00:29:08,150 The trumpets are starting. 489 00:29:08,150 --> 00:29:12,830 It's been performed here every night for thousands of years. 490 00:29:12,830 --> 00:29:14,910 This crowd just following on behind. 491 00:29:14,910 --> 00:29:19,870 'Late into the night, the temple is still buzzing with activity. 492 00:29:19,870 --> 00:29:23,870 'This procession celebrates the love between Lord Shiva 493 00:29:23,870 --> 00:29:27,390 'and his consort, Parvati, and their union in the bed chamber.' 494 00:29:29,550 --> 00:29:31,470 Ravishing. 495 00:29:40,910 --> 00:29:45,070 'The next morning, I had a tragedy to deal with.' 496 00:29:46,470 --> 00:29:49,470 I'm so depressed, because my beautiful suitcase, 497 00:29:49,470 --> 00:29:52,270 I broke the handle. 498 00:29:52,270 --> 00:29:55,030 But I've been told that near a sign which says "car parking", 499 00:29:55,030 --> 00:29:57,350 that there's a leather worker who'd be able to fix it for me. 500 00:29:59,550 --> 00:30:02,350 Got to say, it doesn't look terribly promising. 501 00:30:02,350 --> 00:30:04,190 I wonder if you can help me. 502 00:30:04,190 --> 00:30:08,510 I have broken the handle of my suitcase, you see? 503 00:30:08,510 --> 00:30:09,750 It's very old. 504 00:30:09,750 --> 00:30:12,150 Do you think you can mend it? 505 00:30:16,910 --> 00:30:18,710 Want it removed, huh? Uh-huh. 506 00:30:20,230 --> 00:30:23,830 This? And maybe, what, double, like that? 507 00:30:23,830 --> 00:30:26,030 And stitching? Stitching. 508 00:30:26,030 --> 00:30:27,790 Same colour. Same colour. 509 00:30:27,790 --> 00:30:31,190 Same colour. Thank you. That's good. 510 00:30:31,190 --> 00:30:32,830 Dear little suitcase. 511 00:30:32,830 --> 00:30:35,590 It's been all around the world, it's done everything under the sun, 512 00:30:35,590 --> 00:30:38,310 it's made of buffalo leather, I thought its life was over. 513 00:30:38,310 --> 00:30:40,310 How many hours, how long? 514 00:30:40,310 --> 00:30:43,430 Two hours? Two hours. 515 00:30:43,430 --> 00:30:45,870 Thank you. 516 00:30:45,870 --> 00:30:50,030 I can't watch this, cos it's like having my teeth taken out. 517 00:30:53,110 --> 00:30:55,950 And here she is, this darling old suitcase. 518 00:30:55,950 --> 00:30:58,110 There's its beautiful little new handle. 519 00:30:58,110 --> 00:30:59,710 But there's something... 520 00:30:59,710 --> 00:31:02,950 There's some sort of nostalgia about these old suitcases. 521 00:31:02,950 --> 00:31:05,030 This is buffalo hide. 522 00:31:05,030 --> 00:31:07,550 I've got to say that I always hate kind of leather things, 523 00:31:07,550 --> 00:31:09,830 cos I always think of the poor little dead animals, 524 00:31:09,830 --> 00:31:12,030 and being a vegetarian, I'd much rather have nylon. 525 00:31:12,030 --> 00:31:15,190 But when I look at this and I know it belonged to my mother 526 00:31:15,190 --> 00:31:18,270 and it's been all around the world and it's really robust, 527 00:31:18,270 --> 00:31:20,070 I'll keep it, I'll just keep it. 528 00:31:20,070 --> 00:31:23,110 I usually keep treasures in things like this, it'll be full of things, 529 00:31:23,110 --> 00:31:25,310 so when I'm dead, people will go, "What's this?" 530 00:31:25,310 --> 00:31:28,350 And they'll open it up and it'll be full of treasures. 531 00:31:28,350 --> 00:31:30,710 Things that I've bought back from far away. 532 00:31:30,710 --> 00:31:32,910 Or just old stuff I've forgotten to sort though. 533 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,160 From Madurai, we drove up through some beautiful country 534 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,120 into the Western Ghats. 535 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,880 I remember being dumbstruck at the scenery 536 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,000 and terrified by the mayhem on the roads. 537 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,840 CARN HORNS BLARE 538 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,760 I'm not completely used to the driving in India, 539 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:04,440 which is largely just, go forward until you can't 540 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,520 because something else is coming straight at you. 541 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:10,720 So, I usually sit in the back seat, not because I'm grand, 542 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,560 but because I find it quite life-shortening 543 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:13,960 sitting in the front seat. 544 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,840 'Venturing higher up into tea country, 545 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,560 'we were lucky enough to encounter these chaps.' 546 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,200 This is extraordinary. 547 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,160 And another one, and another one. 548 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,680 Just quietly coming in their own sweet order. 549 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,160 I'm so, so thrilled. 550 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:40,920 One of the great dreams of my life 551 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,720 to see an Indian elephant in the wild. 552 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,720 'But we didn't reveal to you the fascinating chat I had 553 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:50,560 'with an old family friend.' 554 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,280 This is rather exciting, cos I'm going to meet Robin Brown 555 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,560 for the first time in about ten years. 556 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,160 His mother and my mother were very good friends, they're both dead now. 557 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,920 But they had in common India, and Robin, who's, I think, 558 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:06,480 a little bit older than me, he was rather an exotic figure. 559 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,560 Robin and I took very different paths in the swinging '60s. 560 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,360 As I went off to become a model and then an actress, 561 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,920 he, like thousands of others at the time, headed east 562 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:21,720 in search of enlightenment and an alternative lifestyle. 563 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,520 He'd gone out, I think with a sort of hippy trail 564 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,840 all those years ago in the '60s, became bewitched by India, 565 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:32,160 got an old Enfield bike and rode all over the country. 566 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:33,480 I wonder if he's changed, 567 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:37,120 I wonder if he looks like a bit of a hippy, which he used to. 568 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,480 Oh, here he is! 569 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,760 Hey. Wow. 570 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,600 Oh. 571 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:50,920 Joanna, it's nice to see you finally. 572 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:52,280 Oh, Robin, how good to see you. 573 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:54,000 Finally in India together. Together. 574 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,400 So, Robin. Yes. 575 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,480 Isn't it funny, cos I was born... You weren't born in India, were you? 576 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,080 No, I wasn't. My father, being an Army Officer, 577 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,520 he was always trying to get seconded to India, 578 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,360 we could have a great time in the mess 579 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,360 and run up tabs and chits everywhere. 580 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,640 How did you come to India? Did you fly out? 581 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,000 No, no, all of us hitch-hiked. Yeah. 582 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:14,640 It would take weeks, months. 583 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,880 In those days, the zeitgeist was, to hell with western consumerism, 584 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,280 we're gonna hitchhike to Kathmandu or we're going to do this, 585 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:25,080 and completely stoned and get enlightened, that was the thing. 586 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,000 You'd be hanging around in King's Road 587 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,680 and it would be, "What? You haven't gone to... Wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh." 588 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:31,000 It was absolute de rigour. 589 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,880 Then once we'd managed to get here, 590 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,320 I'd learnt so many things on the way, they were fairly bullet-proof. 591 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,080 Getting to Afghani border, you'd halfway made it. 592 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:43,560 We'd reached Afghanistan, and the Afghan customs wallah would come out 593 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,840 in his German uniform and he'd say, "Have you got hashish?" 594 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:49,720 "What, who, me? No, no, no." 595 00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:53,280 So the guy would go, "Here." Bang, kilo slab, 596 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:54,840 "Welcome to the Kingdom!" 597 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:56,560 When you came out here, did you have a job? 598 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:58,880 When you first came when you were a young man. 599 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,400 Staying alive was the job, I think, not dying of dysentery or... 600 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,480 Have a job? No, job was just being what we were. 601 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:07,720 Were you aiming for anywhere? Were you aiming for... 602 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:09,240 Kathmandu. Kathmandu, of course. 603 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:10,440 Kathmandu. Yeah. 604 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:11,960 Of course, with all the famous songs. 605 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,520 Thingy, that one, turned Muslim, what's his name? 606 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,280 Yeah Cat Stephens. Of course, your memory's perfect. 607 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:18,920 Would you give me a spin on your bike? 608 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,400 Well, why not? Can I wear that helmet and sit behind you? 609 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:23,760 Absolutely. And not go fast, cos I'm a trembling memsahib. 610 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,520 No, no, no, I'm more scared of it than you are. 611 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:31,400 # Kathmandu, I'll soon be seeing you 612 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:35,840 # And your strange bewildering time 613 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,040 # Will hold me down... # 614 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:48,920 'We travelled 5,000 feet up to Sikkim, 615 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:50,640 'in the foothills of the Himalayas. 616 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:53,000 'The air was cool and the atmosphere was serene.' 617 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,640 When the cloud lifts, and it will, 618 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,400 I'd be staring at the five peaks of Kanchenjunga. 619 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,000 I'm so disappointed, I'd so wanted to see Kanchenjunga! 620 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,400 'But far away across the mountains, 621 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,080 'we had an audience with the Dalai Lama. 622 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,560 'Meeting His Holiness was humbling, inspiring and great fun. 623 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,400 'But while we were up in the mountains, we stumbled across 624 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:35,560 'another story which, at the time, felt completely out of place. 625 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:44,240 'Back in 1860, a Scotsman wanted to make this leafy hill station 626 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,160 'a seat of British political power.' 627 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,520 It's so gorgeous here in these shady trees. 628 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,760 Joanna, you're gonna have to actually walk in. 629 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,200 Wh- where... Where's in? 630 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,440 The eighth Earl of Elgin, 631 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:06,320 and not the Elgin who procured those beautiful but controversial, er, 632 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,240 marbles from Greece... Sorry, marbles. Sorry, sorry, sorry. 633 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,280 The eighth Earl of Elgin - 634 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,080 not the Elgin who procured those beautiful but controversial 635 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:19,680 marbles from Greece, but his grandson, James Bruce - 636 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:24,160 was made Governor General and Viceroy of India in 1862. 637 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:29,040 He loved this cool retreat so much that he decided that this would be 638 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,400 the summer capital for the British in India. 639 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,880 Unfortunately, just two years after he took office, 640 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,040 he died suddenly here in Dharamshala. 641 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,560 And the British capital, 642 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:47,840 summer capital, went up to Shimla, which is 140 miles due east of here. 643 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,960 But he wanted to be buried, he wanted to stay here in Dharamshala 644 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,920 because he loved it so much. So Mary Louisa, his widow, 645 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:57,920 had him buried here amongst his favourite deodar trees. 646 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:02,160 Good man. Anyway, here's a little corner of a foreign field 647 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:04,480 that is forever Scotland, I would have thought. 648 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,880 Before we went up to Kashmir, which is where I was born, 649 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:18,320 I wanted to do a piece to camera saying how important it was for me 650 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:20,280 for the viewers to see Kashmir 651 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,280 and to have the same emotional attachment to it 652 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,560 as I've always felt. To love it and to admire it. 653 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,480 And so I wanted to do a little piece to camera saying, 654 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,280 "This is why," and so on. 655 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,000 Anyway, it didn't... It didn't really quite work out as planned. 656 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:36,520 Give me your bag. 657 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,040 Lost it slightly, I've bought no makeup with me 658 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,960 so I'm very... I'm very anxious that I now look like a natrid 659 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,880 and old, kind of somebody who's been left behind with the flood. 660 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:57,560 This is McLeod Ganj, and it's in the foothills of the Himalayas. 661 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:01,360 We've travelled everywhere, we've been so far, I've loved it up here. 662 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,720 This is kind of a little bit like Kashmir, where I was born, 663 00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:07,280 but this isn't Kashmir... cos it's a bus, it's a truck. 664 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,160 I'm not gonna like this, Kiff's going to be angry. 665 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:11,880 Kiff's always angry. 666 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:14,080 CHUCKLING 667 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,960 HORN BLARES Help me, help me. 668 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:22,840 And I so want it to be lovely, I so want it to be gorgeous, 669 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:27,040 and the Kashmir that I can show you will be the Kashmir of my heart. 670 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,400 PASSING TRAFFIC 671 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,320 I'm coming to the end of my gorgeous trip through India... 672 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,280 PHONE RINGS ..right up through. Bloop, bloop! 673 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:43,440 From the very south to the very north, 674 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,400 east to west, absolutely stunning. 675 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,680 The next trip, of course... 676 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,720 BLEEP, it's not "trip", sorry. 677 00:39:50,720 --> 00:39:52,520 I'm so muddled at the moment I can't tell you. 678 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:54,280 My head is like a bees' nest. 679 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,280 I left Kashmir when I was a baby, but I went back when I was 35 680 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,920 and it was absolutely beautiful. BEEP off. 681 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,480 It's so... It's so draining working by the side of a road, 682 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,040 second-guessing how long the traffic will be. 683 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,080 OK. No, not quite OK. PASSING TRAFFIC 684 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:40,480 'I had mixed emotions coming back to Kashmir this time. 685 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,000 'Politically, it's been really unstable. 686 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,320 'We had to get special permission to film there, 687 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:48,720 'and we're lucky to come in a window of relative peace.' 688 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:51,840 CHANTING Call to prayer. 689 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,120 It's extraordinary, it feels like a completely different country, 690 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,600 doesn't feel like India at all here. 691 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,720 It just feels... Well, it feels like Kashmir, that's the truth of it. 692 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,920 'But Kashmir will always be dear to me. It's where I was born 693 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:13,400 'and where so much of my family's history is based.' 694 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:15,440 But this is where my grandparents lived for a bit, 695 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:17,640 where my mother and father were certainly married. 696 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:21,000 It's so gorgeous to be back and to think even though I was just... 697 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:25,000 just a baby, teeth growing, probably crying through the night 698 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,000 with pink cheeks, I was sleeping in here. 699 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,080 Srinagar was known as "paradise on Earth," 700 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:36,000 and has always been Kashmir's centre of life and commerce. 701 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:43,400 'The next morning, we'd planned a pre-dawn visit 702 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:46,160 'to the Dal Lake floating market.' 703 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:49,640 It's chilly. 704 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,160 Mind you, it is spring time, which is why the leaves aren't out. 705 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:53,680 But everything just beginning, 706 00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:56,640 willows and poplars all around the lakes. 707 00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:59,200 It's fabulous! 708 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,440 Oh, I'm sailing away, I want to go back. 709 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:04,560 I want to go back, can we go back? 710 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,560 'This timeless scene seemed unearthly, 711 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,920 'and I was longing to see what they were buying and selling.' 712 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:16,360 He shoved my boat away, that's good. Thank you. 713 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:20,240 And they just appear to be selling leaves to each other. 714 00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:23,600 Some of them are kind of long, they look like radish leaves, 715 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,840 I don't know what they are, they look quite delicious. 716 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:30,960 Excuse me, sir? Can I... Can I buy some? 717 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,600 Can I, can I...? No. 718 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:35,960 So I missed that one. 719 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:44,280 Oh, I could buy some turnips. I just want to buy something here. 720 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:46,120 'I've got quite a reputation with the crew 721 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:48,560 'of just eating and drinking anything that's offered to me. 722 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:51,240 'Usually it's out of courtesy, because people will suddenly 723 00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:54,760 'come out of their house or approach across a desert carrying something.' 724 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,680 And on camera they approach and I take it and go, 725 00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:01,000 "Nom, nom, nom, how lovely," um, because it's courtesy. 726 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:02,760 But usually, I just have to eat anything. 727 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:07,920 And this time, um, some part of my mind went AWOL 728 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,240 because all these plants were grown in the Dal Lake, 729 00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:14,840 and what you never do is drink water from the Dal Lake. 730 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,240 It had the most ghastly consequences. 731 00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:20,800 So... 732 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,640 Now, they come in really huge bundles. 733 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,640 This, is this for me to eat? 734 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,480 God, that looks fantastic. 735 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,480 How much is that? 736 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:36,520 80 rupees? 737 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:40,760 Thank you very, very much. Goodbye. 738 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,400 Is that not the most gorgeous... 739 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,520 Couldn't you just, couldn't you just... 740 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:53,240 'What was I thinking?' 741 00:43:53,240 --> 00:43:57,160 I can't tell you, we were up to do the very final piece, 742 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,800 wrapping up the whole of the India programmes, up on the... 743 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:05,160 the mountain looking over the lakes and down over the Veil of Kashmir 744 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:06,920 and Srinagar. 745 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:08,880 I don't think I've ever felt so ill in all my life, 746 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:12,000 I had, you know, the black runs, as it were. 747 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,200 Up every hour, just, no matter how much water I drank... 748 00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:17,880 Oh, anyway, I was near to dead. In the morning, I said, 749 00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:19,200 "I don't think I can do this." 750 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,360 And guess what they said, guess what my crew said? 751 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:23,040 "Yes, you can!" 752 00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:25,600 I'd taken all those kind of pills that you take 753 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,400 to make you into concrete from the neck down, 754 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,960 dragged myself across the lake with a full smile painted on, 755 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,440 and we managed to get through it, I just don't know how. 756 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:40,480 We were miles from any kind of restroom, there was no loo in sight. 757 00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:47,360 Oh, wow, look at this. This is the Veil of Kashmir. 758 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:50,840 And this is the end of our extraordinary journey. 759 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:54,480 We came to Delhi, which is the capital of India, New Delhi, 760 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:56,680 what isn't to be found in Delhi? 761 00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:59,160 And from Delhi we went to the Ellora Caves. 762 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,920 We didn't, we went to Mumbai. 763 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:04,440 Don't have to label everything. SHE GRUNTS 764 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,040 Sorry, Joanna. That's all right. 765 00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:08,920 We've got so much that people are just going, "Get on with it, 766 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:10,280 "we saw the programme." 767 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,800 But somehow just standing up there at the very end 768 00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:14,840 and summing up our India journey, 769 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,600 it made it all feel worthwhile. 770 00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:20,120 And Doctor Theatre always comes in to help. 771 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:22,400 By the end of it, I was completely cured. 772 00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:29,800 'Next time, join me for some more unseen adventures in Iran.' 773 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,200 On our way to... SHE CHUCKLES 774 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:36,240 'In Georgia, we have lunch booked with a dictator.' 775 00:45:36,240 --> 00:45:39,000 I have the strangest feeling that I'm being overlooked. 776 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,800 'And in Haiti, we set sail in search of pirates.' 777 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,760 I wouldn't mind going back soon. 778 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:48,680 It was terrifying, I was black and blue. 779 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:52,840 Subtitles by ITV SignPost