Stephen Fry In America

Television comprises but one small part of my life. (Ok, maybe that's a sad understatement.) But when I do choose to watch something, I like to think that whatever it is, it has some merit. Shows with merit can normally be found rather consistently on ABC and SBS. One show of late that I have been watching religiously is ABC1's Stephen Fry In America. It's a 6-part documentary (or travelogue) following Stephen Fry and his adventures across the 50 states of America in a London Taxi. Fry is one of Britains more prominent men of intellect; he is an author; the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks and a fresh TV personality with razor-sharp witticisms. My opinion of him recently improved upon spotting him in the crowd watching The Ashes - Australia and England's fiercest cricketing competition.

Ever since being a little boy I have always had a wry sense of curiosity of America and Stephen Fry's documentary afforded me the opportunity of familiarising myself even further with the U.S. of A. while heightening my desire to go there. Or at least to travel again. Now, to kill two birds with one stone (excuse the tired expression) - Stephen Fry in America can be watched online, through ABC's new iView service. (A New Communication Technology, perhaps?) It's a neat little service in the vain of new digital television technologies such as TiVo: if you miss your program, watch it later. It's like You Tube only the videos are shows that have featured on ABC, and the quality is far superior.

For anyone who hasn't seen it and who has an interest in travel-documentaries, I seriously recommend it. If you also have an interest in America, or you appreciate fine BBC productions (or Stephen Fry, for that matter) - well, I have even more reason to recommend it.