by Phil Harrison, Time Out
What’s endearing about McCloud, is that rather than damning the Brits for their lack of originality, he praises their adventurousness and adaptability. It’s this kind of open-minded optimism that has made the series such a pleasure.
McCloud’s also been a wonderful game guide – tonight, he abseils into a terrifying Alpine abyss in the name of illustrating the extremity of experience demanded by some of the original Grand Tourists. Eventually, he reveals, these experiences came to be facilitated by a British businessman named Thomas Cook. The moment at which travel became tourism seems as good a place to end as any, but this series has amply illuminated the difference between the two.
